*2.2. Official Controls (OC) in Terms of Both Hygiene Conditions and Nutritional Guidelines*

Parallel to the investigations directly conducted on the children, OC were carried out in school canteens. These OC were aimed at verifying both the hygienic–sanitary conditions and nutritional rules compliance. The controls were performed by a direct inspection of the canteens as well as by inspection of documentation completeness and maintenance [23,24].

The OC were performed by a team of official inspectors of the LHU: one medical doctor expert in human nutrition, one medical doctor expert in public health, one dietician, and one environmental health officer. The inspection team had to file a standardized report with one checklist, divided in two sections, provided by the Integrated Regional Control Plan to assess the elements of structural, procedural, and managerial compliance in the field of food safety in school catering (cooking centers, canteens with on-site preparation, and school refectories) [25]. The inspection was aimed at evaluating compliance with the requirements foreseen by law. In detail:

*Hygienic–sanitary section:*


As required by the guidelines for food safety OC, findings were recorded according to a four-point-scale that took into account full compliance (YES), partial compliance (yes), inadequacy/minor non-compliance (no) and major non-compliance (NO) [26].

*Nutritional section*:


Regarding this section, the answers provided were dichotomous (yes/no).
