Evaluation of the lunch boxes of 5th grade students of primary schools

The current study was carried out over 5th grade students of Eşrefbey Primary School in the town of Gebze of the city of Kocaeli (n: 173) in order to determine their lunch boxes in terms of nutrition and hygiene.The data, gathered through questionnaire forms applied to students face to face and observation form used to evaluate lunch boxes of the students, was evaluated on computer at the program of Statistical Program for Social Science (SPSS 11.5). ?2 (chi-square) test and t test of significance were used for the statistical analyses. Significance level was taken as p<0.05. Considering that there should be one of four food groups in the lunch boxes of the students 2 points were given for each food group in the lunch boxes of them.It was found that 56.0% of the students sometimes took their boxes with them, while 16.8% did it regularly and that the mothers of these students were housewives at the rate of 71.9& and 61.1% of them always planned what to put in the lunch boxes.It was also found that of those not taking their boxes with them, 75.0% bought their food at the school canteen and that 25.0% could not take a lunch box as their mothers did not prepare one for them.The scores belonging to food groups in the lunch boxes of the students were found low as daily and weekly values. However, it was determined that the scores of food groups of the students whose mothers were housewives (19.67±6.19) was higher compared to the scores of the ones whose mothers were working (16.38±4.49) and that the difference was significant statistically (p<0.05). Mostly consumed foods by the students were in the group of cereal and creal products.It was found that the status of the presence of smell, dirt and food residual in the lunch boxes of the students was not significant statistically depending on the days (p<0.05).As a conclusion; it is recommended that necessary precautions should be taken in order to make students, parents and teachers be aware of preparing and taking lunch boxes to school.Key Words: Lunch Box, Nutrition, School Age Children