Research trends in public policy: an assessment of the National School Food Program (PNAE)

The scope of the article is to evaluate the research trends of the Brazilian School Food Program (PNAE), by analyzing the papers published in journals on the Brazilian Federal Agency for Support and Evaluation of Graduate Education (CAPES) website in the period from 2008 to 2013. It involved bibliographical research by means of qualitative analysis to detect the most relevant issues addressed and discussed by the program. Ten scientific articles related to the area were selected after reading the abstracts and research topics of the articles and by a search for the following key words: public policy, family farming, school food. Studies related to the PNAE and its impacts were also considered, due to the connection with the activities carried out in Brazilian public policy. The paper presents the issues analyzed and discussed most on the subject during the period under consideration. The conclusion reached is that the main research trends are characterized by the study of strategies for food and nutrition safety, analyzing the composition and acceptance of foods offered to students by an analysis of production, better living conditions and local development of rural producers.