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The goal of the study is to evaluate the implementation of the governmental pilot program for providing school meals to preschool and school children from socio-economic disadvantaged areas and identify which are its main outcomes, as well as to examine the adequacy of the national nutritional policy with a focus on the perspective of a new European child protection policy which promotes healthy nutrition as a main tool for social inclusion of vulnerable children. The study is based on two study cases carried out in communities where the program is implemented, as well as on a review of the relevant policies from a comparative perspective. The main conclusions of the article show that the Romanian nutrition policy is outdated and inadequately designed to support interventions aiming at promoting a healthy lifestyle, which affected the implementation of the pilot program. Although there are some positive results of the pilot program, and is positively perceived at local level, there are some critical aspects which should be considered, as it is its lack of focus on health outcomes, and insufficient support for local authorities and schools in running the program, aspects which might become critical for the perspective of scaling up the program at national level.
Keywords: nutritional policy, school meal program, healthy nutrition, social inclusion
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