Actions of nutritionists as the technicians responsible for school food in municipalities in the states of Minas Gerais and Espirito Santo/Atuacao de nutricionistas responsaveis tecnicos pela alimentacao escolar de municipios de Minas Gerais e Espirito Santo

The nutritionist is responsible for promoting eating and nutritional security in school food, thereby contributing to the adoption of healthy eating habits. The scope of this study was to assess the actions of nutritionists as the technicians responsible for school food in the states of Minas Gerais and Espirito Santo. A cross-sectional study was conducted with the participation of 77 nutritionists, and included descriptive, univariate, multivariate and Poisson regression analysis with robust variance. The results revealed non-compliance by the majority of nutritionists with various fundamental attributions of the program as required by law. These include the compilation of the annual work plan, analysis of the nutritional composition of menus, elaboration of technical procedures for food preparation, use of the Good Preparation Practices Manual and conducting the test of acceptability. The regression models showed that nutritionists who prepared a work plan, performed nutritional assessment and conducted tests of acceptability, perform more Food and Nutrition Education actions. These findings highlight the urgent need to bring the municipalities into line with prevailing legislation and implement corrective actions. Key words Nutritionist, Performance. School feeding O nutricionista e responsavel pela promocao da seguranca alimentar e nutricional na alimentacao escolar, contribuindo para a construcao de praticas alimentares saudaveis. Neste estudo buscou-se conhecer a atuacao de nutricionistas responsaveis tecnicos da alimentacao escolar em municipios de Minas Gerais e Espirito Santo. Foi realizado estudo de corte transversal com participacao de 77 nutricionistas, incluindo analises descritivas; univariadas e analises de regressao de Poisson com variancia robusta. Constatou-se o des cumprimento pela maioria dos nutricionistas de diversas atribuicoes essenciais do programa, previstas em Lei, como producao do plano anual de trabalho, analise da composicao nutricional de cardapios, elaboracao de fichas tecnicas de preparacao, utilizacao do Manual de Boas Praticas de Fabricacao e realizacao do teste de aceitabilidade. Os modelos de regressao mostraram que nutricionistas que desenvolviam plano de trabalho, avaliacao nutricional e teste de aceitabilidade apresentaram maior ocorrencia de realizacao de acoes de Educacao Alimentar e Nutricional. Ressalta-se necessidade imediata de adequacao dos municipios a legislacao vigente e implementacao de acoes corretivas. P