JOUR 3010 Article 6

Nutrition reform finally hitting schools

by Morgan Scroggs

Voices echo in the wide lunchroom of a public school; shouts and squeals, laughter and grumbles all resound as groups of students line up to receive their school lunch for the day, some of them with lunch assistance cards. The options for healthy choices appear bleak as they pass by the drying hot plates of frozen pizza and the steaming reservoirs of canned green beans, french fries, and chicken nuggets. Even the prepackaged, mostly-iceberg lettuce salad seems a gamble.

So what is changing for public school children?

In the past, variations of canned fruits and vegetables packed with sodium and preservatives, frozen pizza tomato paste, and iceberg lettuce (which accounts for less than 5 percent of dietary fiber per serving), were all classified as a serving of fruits or vegetables in the National School Lunch Program.

According to the Child Nutrition Reauthorization Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010 – a program that seeks to increase nutrition in school children to “combat childhood obesity and improve children's overall health” – the United States Department of Agriculture would be given "for the first time in more than 30 years, the opportunity to make real reforms to the school lunch and breakfast programs by improving the critical nutrition and hunger safety net for millions of children."

Cartersville city school nutrition director Tracey Morris says the regulations weren't finalized until this month, accounting as to why some schools are just beginning the process of adopting the 2-year-old bill.

“A process this big takes years to change,” she says.

The school board for Cartersville City Schools recently approved an increase in price for lunches in the 2012-2013 school year that will begin in August. According to Morris, the Cartersville school system “offers a very healthy menu now,” even winning the best practices award in 2007 from the USDA for promoting a healthy school environment.

The nutritional improvements to school lunches come at a price: about $0.25 more per child. Financial support will still be given, and it boasts an “increase[d] access to healthy food for low-income children.”

“We are required to go up on the price of our meals” says Morris, “and I am afraid that many parents will view that we are going down on quality because we are not feeding their children what they want. Parents review the menus and their children pick the day that they like the menu item listed.”

As with any program, waste is a concern, and Morris says that some requirements may be too stringent, especially when students have the option of throwing away whatever they are offered. “All of us like for our food to taste good,” she says, “If we offer a reduced sodium, low fat, whole grain pizza that does not taste like pizza, do you think students will like it?”

The National School Lunch Program regulations require that certain criteria for schools receiving funding be met: making sure much of the food sold in schools (vending machines, lunch rooms, and stores) generates revenue at least equal to the cost of the foods, and that all lunches (regardless of student eligibility for free or reduce-price fare) be provided with financial support.

According to Morris, the Cartersville school system has already complied with the requirements, and has partnered with Royal Produce to receive more fresh fruits and produce.