Methodological Aspects of the Study on Food Commercialization in Brazilian Schools (Caeb)

Abstract

It presents the methodological aspects of the design and organization of the study Food Commercialization in Brazilian Schools, which aimed to evaluate aspects related to the commercialization of food and beverages in private schools, based on information collected from school cafeteria managers and street vendors located in the immediate surroundings of the schools. A cross-sectional study was conducted in private elementary and high schools that had cafeterias, in the 26 Brazilian state capitals and the Federal District. Simple random sampling with inverse replacement was used, and in the end, 2,241 cafeterias and 700 street vendors were evaluated. The proportion of sample loss was 21.2%. The questionnaire was developed and reviewed by specialists, covering questions about: food and nutritional information, infrastructure for meals, convenience, price, availability, variety, and promotion. The logistics included a coordinating team that conducted training, managed and controlled data quality, local researchers, and a company that assisted with fieldwork. The data collection took place between 2022 and 2024. The main implementation challenges were its overlap with the 2022 election period, episodes of violence in schools, internal school policies, and the complexity of Brazil’s cultural diversity and vast territorial extension. The study’s strengths include the novelty of the data collected in terms of depth and representativeness, the use of the generated evidence to propose public policies for regulating the school food environment, and the support in building a network of researchers on the topic.