[Changes in conceptions of food quality in the Brazilian School Meals Program].

The objective of this study was to analyze the ideas about quality of AE, established through the legal documents of the National School Feeding Program (PNAE) in the period from 1955 to 2020, based on the constitutive dimensions of the FNS concept formalized in national legislation. Based on the method of document analysis and the theoretical references of discursive institutionalism, ideas about quality were problematized in light of the concept of food and nutritional security (SAN, acronym in Portuguese). 16 PNAE legislations were analyzed considering the historical, political and social context and conceptions about quality. The analysis was compared with scientific production, food and nutrition policy documents, SAN, AE and historical research. Ideas about AE quality have undergone transformations in several parameters and values, being influenced by SAN policies. The PNAE was initially institutionalized as a "food supplementation" program and was consolidated as a SAN program, where the quality of the AE considers everything from the origin of the food to its suitability for the local food culture. It currently incorporates the dietary guidelines of the food guides, indicating that the institutionalization of the PNAE enhances the combination of different dimensions of quality.