Objective: To analyze the status of parents sharing meal expenses in the national pilot areas of the Nutrition Improvement Program for Rural Compulsory Education Students (NIPRCES) and its influencing factors, so as to provide scientific data for promoting the proper implementation of the NIPRCES and the healthy development of students. Methods: In the 726 national pilot counties in 22 provinces where the NIPRCES was implemented, 8 109 primary and junior high schools were selected as the survey objects and included in the analysis according to the three feeding methods of canteen feeding, enterprise feeding and mixed feeding. Data such as the basic information of the schools and counties, and the status of parents sharing meal expenses were collected through questionnaires. Multivariate Logistic regression analysis was used to analyze the influencing factors of parents sharing meal expenses. Results: In the national pilot areas of the NIPRCES, schools where parents shared meal costs accounted for 30.2% of all monitored schools in 2019. In central and western areas, the proportion of schools where parents shared meal costs were 51.5% and 20.3%, respectively. In schools where parents shared meal costs, no matter in primary school or junior high school, the difference in the amount of meal expenses shared by parents of students in middle and western schools was statistically significant ( χ 2= 181.78 , 89.54, P <0.01). Among 38.7% of the parents of primary school students in the central region shared meal expenses of ≥2 yuan, and 47.5% of the parents of primary school students in the western region. Multivariate Logistic regression analysis showed that the parents of schools in the central region, junior high schools or nine year system schools, canteen feeding or other feeding, large school size, the nutritious meal subsidy used for lunch, middle and high family income level, medium and low input level of the monitoring counties, monitoring counties with other nutrition public welfare projects and insufficient working funds share a higher proportion of meal expenses ( OR=3.22, 1.51, 1.36, 1.74, 3.74, 1.38, 11.58, 2.40, 3.15, 1.50, 2.12, 3.36, 1.34, P < 0.05). Conclusion The proportion of meals shared by parents of school students in the NIPRCES implementation area was relatively low, which may be affected by factors such as economic level, feeding mode, school scale, etc.

Objective: To analyze the usage and influencing factors of quantified recipes in schools in the pilot areas of the Nutrition Improvement Program for Rural Compulsory Education Students (NIPRCES), and to provide references for student meal quality improvement. Methods: In 726 national pilot counties in 22 provinces where the NIPRCES was implemented, a total of 7 808 schools were included in the analysis as the survey objects in 2019. Data, including the usage of quantified recipes in schools and related factors, were collected through questionnaires. Multivariate Logistic regression was used to analyze the influencing factors of the schools use of quantified recipes. Results: Among the national pilot counties where the NIPRCES was implemented, 66.6 % of the monitored schools used quantified recipes, of which 69.7% of schools in the central region used quantified recipes, it was higher than that in the west region(65.2%) ( χ 2=15.13, P <0.01). Multivariate Logistic regression analysis showed that factors such as the schools in the central region, county based schools, the training frequency of canteen with 1-2 times per semester or once or more per month, regular training of nutrition knowledge, recipes provided by other departments, consideration of nutrition matching when formulating recipes, using catering software, providing local dietary allowances were positively correlated with the use of quantified recipes in schools( OR=1.31,0.72,1.44,1.73,1.75,3.20,2.15,2.72,1.17,P <0.05). Conclusion The proportion of using quantified recipes of schools in the NIPRCES area was relatively low, which might be affected by factors including the regional economic level, canteen training, and recipes sources. It is recommended to strengthen the construction of professional teams and canteen training. Schools need to be encouraged to use quantified recipes and promote school catering scientifically to improve healthy growth of students.