Greece introduces stricter canteen rules to promote healthier children's diets

Greece has revised its school canteen regulations, prioritising healthier snacks like wholegrain bread, fresh fruit milk drinks, and banning processed items to combat childhood obesity.

Greece is tightening the rules on what schools may sell in canteens, with the Health Ministry keeping the focus on healthier snacks while allowing a narrow set of familiar items that are easier for pupils and operators to handle. The revised rules cover bread products, pies, sandwiches, toast, pizza and milk-based drinks, and are framed as part of a wider effort to improve children’s diets and curb obesity, according to the ministry.

Under the updated limits, canteens may offer white, wholemeal and multigrain bread, as well as Arabic flatbread and tortillas, but wholegrain options are to be preferred. The maximum weight for that group is 80 grammes, while gluten-free bread is also allowed. Sesame and multigrain koulouri, along with pretzel-style rings, are capped at 80 grammes, and popcorn is permitted only in secondary schools, where it must stay within a 40-gramme portion and meet strict limits on sugar, salt and fat.

Cheese pies, spinach pies, courgette pies, mixed vegetable pies and cheese breadsticks remain allowed up to 100 grammes. Pizza is still on the menu, but only if it does not contain processed meats and if each portion stays at or below 100 grammes. Sandwiches and toast may include grilled or boiled chicken and turkey, but not deli-style meat products.

The ministry also allows milk drinks made in the canteen with fresh milk and fresh or frozen fruit, while banning packaged equivalents and ready-made powder mixes. According to the ministry, the changes were drawn up with the National Nutrition Committee and the Panhellenic Federation of School Canteens, with seven of the federation’s proposals adopted in an effort to make the rules more practical without abandoning the broader health objective.