SATS School Meals Programme

It is 9.30 a.m. Bernice, a Primary 1 student, waits eagerly in the queue in the canteen to get her food. When it is her turn, she taps her SATS Meal Card on the card terminal. She is glad to see that her favourite Mac ‘N’ Cheese is available for recess! She collects her food and excitedly joins her friends at the table. There, she sees that her friends are also eating their favourites – Singapore Fried Bee Hoon, Chicken Meatloaf Fried Rice with Omelette and Pancake Delight with Sausage.

Unlike a traditional school canteen which operates a few stalls, SATS, Asia’s leading airline caterer, has been engaged by schools to provide healthy and nutritious school meals for the students. Yet, there is no lack of choice compared to a traditional school canteen as the students have 22 meal options to choose from each day, from Western to Asian cuisine and in different portion sizes, to cater to the full range of palates and nutritional requirements.

Each term’s menu is carefully curated by award-winning SATS chefs. There are regular termly changes to the menu so there is a wide range of healthy options that students can look forward to try over the school year. There is also a dietician on the SATS team to ensure that the meals adhere to Health Promotion Board guidelines and offer the right amount of nutrients to sustain students through the school day. If parents want advice on their child’s nutritional needs, they can write in to the experts on the SATS Dietician and Culinary Team. Indeed, Mdm Sun, Bernice’s mother, is grateful that she can trust that her child’s needs are always met in terms of nutrition, taste and portion size.

Recognising that many children do not like to eat vegetables, SATS Chef Mark Ng says, “The vegetables are either blended into or ‘hidden’ in the food. They are also served in an attractive way so that children would want to eat them.”

SATS Dietician Teoh Wei Jie adds, “One example is the white sauce in the pasta, which is actually made of cauliflower.”

Parents also need assurance that the food that their children are consuming meets the highest standards of food safety and quality assurance. As a proud recipient of the AVA Food Safety Award (Platinum), SATS adheres strictly to regulatory guidelines to ensure the highest level of food safety. Their high quality ingredients are sourced from reliable suppliers, there is strict process adherence to HACCP and ISO standards and the food is prepared in Grade ‘A’ hygiene production facilities. Meals are packed and delivered to the school in food-grade insulated boxes and kept in food warmers at a temperature suitable for students to handle and consume.

Parents like the fact that they can track and educate their children on what they are eating. Previously, they did not know what their children were eating at recess. Now, they can go online together at the start of each term to select the meals for recess and talk about the nutritional value of each meal displayed on the menu, such as the number of calories, the amount of carbohydrates, proteins and fats and possible allergens. In that way, parents can guide their child towards healthy eating. With meals pre-ordered and paid for, parents do not have to worry about their children forgetting to have cash on hand to purchase food, or hygiene issues arising from handling cash.

For parents who do not want the hassle of going online to order the meals, there is the option of the School Recess Meal Subscription Programme where there is a fixed selection of meals each day and payment is made through the School Bill. Mdm Amanda, who has a Primary 1 child, expressed, “I like the convenience of payment through the School Bill because I don’t have to go through the hassle of going online to select the meals and make payment.”

Welcome to the future of the school canteen!