We design meals served in daycare centres, schools and educational institutions to support the energy and wellbeing of children and young people. A meal based on the plate model covers part of the day's nutritional needs, with the rest coming from food eaten at home. In care services, food is an important part of care.
We serve food that meets nutritional recommendations
When planning our menus, we take into account the dietary recommendations for different client groups, as well as national dietary recommendations. You can find the recommendations on the websites of the Finnish Food Authority and the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare.
Dietary recommendations
Heart symbol indicates a healthier meal option
Our food services provide weekly Heart symbol meals that meet the criteria for the symbol. These meals pay particular attention to the quality and quantity of fat, salt and fibre in the food. There are a set of requirements for each part of the meal. We were the first food service operator to introduce the Heart symbol label in our meals.
Read more about the symbol on the Sydänmerkki.fi website(Link leads to external service) (in Finnish)
Frequently asked questions about nutrition – answered by our specialists
Here you will find answers from our experts to nutrition-related frequently asked questions from our customers.
We conduct an annual food wish survey at schools and educational institutions, which provides us with important information about what dishes pupils like. In addition to that, we involve pupils in the planning of theme and holiday menus where possible. We organise regular tastings of new foods, where students can give feedback directly to our product development team. New lunch options can also be tried at a single school at first, for example, after which we collect feedback from the pupils and add the dish to the menu or develop it further.
It is also possible to give continuous feedback(Link leads to external service) on the menu or give your opinion on a school lunch immediately after lunch using the instant feedback devices that circulate in schools throughout the school year. All feedback received will be processed by our menu team.
In line with nutritional recommendations, a health-promoting and environmentally sustainable diet is plant and fish-based, which is why we offer more plant-based and fish dishes than meat dishes. However, meat dishes can be part of a varied diet and are offered in school on a weekly basis. Vegetables in different forms add more flavour and freshness to food – and they're pretty tasty, too!
Our menus are always planned in cooperation with our customer, the Education Division. Helsinki aims to provide healthy and environmentally sustainable food and reduce the use of animal products such as meat and milk.
We use a variety of vegetable proteins as ingredients for our vegetarian meals. In addition to traditional pulses such as beans, chickpeas and lentils, the ingredients include Nyhtökaura pulled oats, Härkis broad bean product, tofu, Quorn, and different pea and broad bean products. The nutritional content of different diets is assessed as complete meals, including a salad and salad dressing, bread and spread and a vegetable drink, milk or buttermilk in addition to the main course. The nutritional content of the whole meal is in line with the nutritional and dietary recommendations for each client group (recommendation for school meals, meal recommendation for early childhood education), and the amount of protein is also in line with these recommendations.
Not all school cafeterias have an opportunity to acquire a wide selection of different special diet products, as such products can easily result in wastage if the school only has a few pupils with special dietary requirements. The school cafeteria must purchase its ingredients from wholesalers with large sales lots. For special diets, we provide a product selection that is nutritionally sufficient and as diverse as possible, and try to ensure that the same dishes can be featured several times in the six-week menu circulation period.