Introduction:

The canteens are a way to guarantee access to safe, healthy and environmentally responsible food for university students.

Objective:

The purpose of this research was to characterize the menu standards, based on the evaluation of the nutritional quality and the environmental impact of the inputs used for its preparation by a university canteen in Uruguay.

Materials and methods:

This was a retrospective case study, relating to the year 2021. The variables evaluated were a) total amount of food purchased in kilograms (kg); b) quantity in kilocalories (kcal) and environmental impacts due to: c) waste generation; d) water footprint (WF); and e) greenhouse gases (GHG). Calculations were also performed to assess eco-efficiency (EE).

Results:

The university canteen served 33,740 meals in 2021, of which 87.1% were lunches. Of the 78 types of food purchased, 41 of them represented 93.17% of the total in kilograms. In nutritional quality, less than 10% are classified as processed or ultra-processed foods. In the evaluation of nutritional aspects and environmental impacts, foods of animal origin represented 26.52% of the total in kg and 69.78% of WF. A vegetal based food had the highest GHG impact due to its origin. Regarding the EE calculations, the general assessment showed a result of 0.626 for foods of animal origin and 0.3838 for those of vegetable origin.

Conclusions:

It corresponds to the food services for communities to consider, in the planning of the menu, in addition to the nutritional and sanitary quality of the food offer, the environmental impacts that it generates.