The school meals system plays an essential role in Finland’s educational system. Equal access to education and free-of-charge school meals has been one of the key factors in supporting economic growth and transforming Finland into a knowledge based society. Initially, school meals were introduced to address post-war poverty and malnutrition. At the time, Finland was also resettling thousands of internally displaced people and orphans. The law to provide meals free-of-charge for all pupils came into force nationw ide in 1948. For more than 75 years, Finland has been offering school meals for all students – the longest-running free-of-charge school feeding programme in the world which is funded with the government and municipal taxes. The funds for operating costs are disbursed directly to the education providers. The financial resources are not earmarked to the allocation or imputation bases; instead, the local authority or other education provider is free to decide how to allocate the funds.