OBJECTIVE: To monitor exposure time and temperature of meat-based meals served in municipal schools in Natal, Brazil. METHODS: Twenty-seven municipal schools were randomly selected and stratified by administrative region. The temperature of meat-based meals was verified four times at each school and exposure time was checked at the end of cooking and at initial and final distribution, with a digital thermometer. The results were compared with the standards of Agência Nacional de Vigilância Sanitária of the Ministério da Saúde, resolution nº 216/2004. RESULTS: With respect to cooking temperature, 100% of the schools were within the standards (above 70ºC). However, both at initial and final distribution, 100% of the schools from the Eastern and Southern regions exhibited inadequate temperatures (below 60ºC). In the Western region 70% of the schools had different temperatures at the outset of distribution and 90% at the conclusion. In the northern region it was verified that 91% and 82% of the schools had inappropriate initial and final temperatures, respectively. Mean waiting time for the meals was 59, 49, 66, and 48 minutes for the Eastern, Western, Northern and Southern regions, respectively. CONCLUSION: Good practices must be adopted in the municipal schools of Natal, in order to effectively maintain the distribution temperatures of meals, thus ensuring satisfactory sanitary quality of the food served to schoolchildren and avoiding food intoxication occasioned by improper temperatures.
School feeding; Meat; Food hygiene
