Role of School Meal Service in Nutrition.

School meal service programs are essential for children's long-term nutrition and health promotion. The programs vary in content, depending on the economic condition, health condition and the food supply situation in each country. Children are encouraged to improve their nutrition, and choose healthy foods and learn good dietary habits through school meals and nutrition education. In Japan, the school lunch program started in 1889. The percentage of elementary schools serving school lunches had reached 99.2% in 2014, and the Nutrition Teacher system started in 2004. Nutrition teachers are to play the roles of teachers on food and nutrition education in addition to managers of foodservice operations in schools. Nutrition teachers are expected to have effects on school nutrition programs by providing meal service together with nutrition education. And so, significant effort is needed from both academia and the field to raise the related nutritional issues.