Table 1

Inclusion and exclusion criteria according to PICOs (population, intervention, comparator, outcomes, study design)

PICOsInclusionExclusion
Population

  • Children in secondary school (ISCED level 2 and 3/ages 10–18) within EU Member States, the UK, Norway, Iceland, Switzerland.

  • Literature focusing on primary school-age children

  • Literature covering countries outside of EU Member States, Norway, Switzerland, Iceland, the UK

Intervention

  • School food policies aiming at improving school full meals.

  • Policies focusing solely on snacks, vending machines or changes in beverages

  • Parents packed lunch boxes

  • Breakfast club

  • School fruit or milk programmes

  • Research projects

Outcomes

  • Health

  • Acceptability

  • Affordability

  • Implementation determinants

Study design

  • Primary studies published in peer-reviewed journals

  • WHO, EU and country-specific ministry reports of the EU Member States, the UK, Norway, Iceland and Switzerland assessing the effectiveness of school meal policies

  • No reviews, conference abstracts, bachelor, master and dissertation theses

  • EU, European Union; ISCED, International Standard Classification of Education.