QUALITATIVE ASSESSMENT OF THE LUNCH MENU PREPARATIONS FOR THE EMPLOYEES OF AN ASSOCIATION FOR DISABLED IN SAO PAULO

To evaluate the quality of the lunch menu of employees of an association for disabled in Sao Paulo and compare it with the parameters recommended by the "Programa de Alimentacao do Trabalhador" (PAT). Material and Methods: The AQPC method was used to evaluate the menu of the "Unidade de Alimentacao e Nutricao" (UAN) following the criteria: presence of fruits, sweets and fried foods or their association, fatty meats, offer of leafy vegetables, the presence of sulfur-rich foods and the combination of colors. Results: UAN customers prefer elaborate desserts, which are included in the menu every day and in 69% of them, there are fruits as an option to sweets. Fried foods are present in 45.2% of the days and the association of sweets and fried foods is present in 42.9% of the times; fatty meat has been offered in 54.8% of the days, the supply of leafy vegetables had 100% of occurrence and in 42.9% of the days, beans were associated with two or more sulfur-rich preparations. NDPCal% (Net Dietary Protein Calories -%) was 16.7%. Conclusion: Although UAN presents a menu that offers leafy vegetables daily, it also provides a high amount of sweets, fried foods, fatty meats and NDPCal%, and does not present fruits on the menu every day, which makes it inappropriate in relation to PAT legislation. In addition, it is important that the menus contain colored preparations. In this way, the AQPC method can be a good tool for more attractive, varied and healthy menu planning.