School Food Service Health Article

School Food Service

There are 48 million school children who are served by school food services in the United States everyday. Many of these children participate in the National School Lunch Program (NSLP), which was established by Congress in 1946 to provide low-cost or free nutritionally sound lunches to public school children. By 1946, about 7.1 million children were being served. This grew to 22 million by 1970, and by 2000 more than 27.4 million children were fed through the NSLP. Since 1946 more than 180 billion lunches have been served. School food service and the NSLP play a very important role in children's learning.

The NSLP is administered by the Food and Nutrition Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) at the federal level and by state educational agencies at the local level. Most school districts have a food service or child nutrition service director who oversees the work of cafeteria managers and staff in individual school cafeterias. In many school districts, meals are prepared from scratch by kitchen staff, while many districts contract commercial caterers to provide the food. Fast-food companies are also competing to get into school cafeterias.

School districts that participate in the NSLP receive cash subsidies and food commodities from the USDA. They serve lunches to eligible students (who may receive the meals free or at a reduced price) and are then reimbursed for the meals. In addition to the NSLP, the School Breakfast Program (SBP) was begun in 1966. By 2001, 7.7 million students were served free or reduced-price breakfasts through the SBP.

Children from families with incomes at or below 130 percent of the poverty level (as described by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Service) are eligible for free meals. Those from families with incomes between 130 and 185 percent of the poverty level are eligible for reducedpriced meals. Usually these children pay no more than forty cents for lunch and thirty cents for breakfast. School food-service programs must operate their business as nonprofit programs.

To qualify for federal reimbursements, school lunches must meet the Dietary Guidelines for Americans (DGAs) which recommend that no more than 30 percent of an individual's total caloric intake come from fat, and no more than 10 percent from saturated fat. Federal regulations also mandate that school lunches provide one-third of the Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA) for protein, vitamin A, vitamin C, iron, calcium, and calories. The SBP provides breakfasts that meet the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, and provide one-fourth of the RDA for the above nutrients. RDAs vary for children of different ages. Elementary schools, middle schools, and high schools should therefore serve meals that meet the age-appropriate RDAs. Table 1 shows the school lunches that meet the RDA requirements of children at different grade levels.

Plate Waste

Children do not always eat everything on their lunch or breakfast trays. While the USDA attempts to mandate compliance in nutrition integrity of meals provided by school food service, there is no guarantee that children will actually consume everything. G. Richard Jansen and Judson M. Harper, in their 1978 study of the consumption and plate waste of food in the NSLP of fifty-eight elementary schools and high schools, reported that of the 23,000 lunches measured, students tended not to eat all items in the meals. High school students tended to waste less food than elementary students. In 2001, Shanklin found that while students chose meals that were healthful, many did not finish their meals. Vegetables were the least popular item in the meals. While 64 percent of the students selected green peas, most of the students discarded half of what they chose.

The issue of plate waste is an important one. Parents and teachers may help by educating students about nutrition and the importance of eating healthful meals, while school-food service personnel can strive to offer nutritious choices in ways that students will find more appealing.