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The Problem with Your Child's School Lunch
Deep-fried popcorn chicken, tiny taters, bread, barbecue sauce, ketchup, milk. That high-fat, high-sodium, low-fiber menu is a typical lunch at a typical American elementary school. We know about it because Mrs. Q., a grade-school teacher, decided to eat her school's lunch every day for an entire school year and report anonymously to the world on her blog, "Fed Up With Lunch: The School Lunch Project" (fedupwithschoollunch.blogspot.com). What she discovered about our kids' midday meals is sobering if not surprising: Menu mainstays routinely feature fatty items such as pizza, french fries, hot dogs, and a mystery pork product called "ribicue." She's eaten beef with fake grill marks and lots of sweetened fruit cups.
Mrs. Q. didn't know when she started documenting each meal that she would become a prominent voice on a hot-button issue that has galvanized not only high-profile chefs such as Jamie Oliver and Rachael Ray but also First Lady Michelle Obama. "I'm normally not subversive in any way," Mrs. Q. says of her unexpected though anonymous celebrity status -- we promised not to reveal her identity when we interviewed her. "But if you're a parent you may not have a clue about what your kids are really eating. Lunches at my school are like overly packaged TV dinners gone bad."
It doesn't have to be this way. At Galtier Magnet Elementary School, in St. Paul, Minnesota, menus include whole-grain bread and pasta, along with unsweetened applesauce for dessert. There's also a salad bar stocked with greens, carrots, peas, and grape tomatoes. A sauce station offers seasonings -- low-fat ranch dressing, soy sauce, Louisiana hot sauce. Many of the kids in St. Paul still eat tacos and macaroni and cheese, but the cafeteria makes lower-fat versions of both. They also get edamame and chicken stew, which add vital nutrients into their diet.
While even detractors acknowledge that the quality of most American school lunches has steadily improved over the past 15 years, everyone from nutritionists and public-health experts to the First Lady -- not to mention a growing number of extremely frustrated parents -- believes that our children's school lunches are still overprocessed affairs laden with unhealthy preservatives, sodium, sugar, and trans fat. Nutritional quality varies widely from district to district, but according to the USDA a typical school lunch far exceeds the recommended 500 milligrams of sodium; some districts, in fact, serve lunches with more than 1,000 milligrams. The USDA also reports that less than a third of schools stay below the recommended standard for fat content in their meals. "School lunches hardly resemble real food -- they serve items such as chicken nuggets, which are highly processed, with additives and preservatives, and list more than 30 ingredients instead of just chicken," says Marion Nestle, Ph.D., professor of nutrition food studies and public health at New York University. Nuggets are only one example of how schools rely on too many foods that are heavily processed and high in sugar, sodium, and chemicals. The problem isn't simply that kids are eating unhealthy foods for lunch. The cafeteria's offerings also give a seal of approval: "Kids associate school with education; therefore they get the wrong impression that these kinds of foods are healthy," says Dr. Nestle.
And we're not just talking about the stuff on the hot-lunch menu. Provided through the National School Lunch Program (NSLP) to children who qualify for free or reduced-price lunches and breakfasts (and also offered to students who can pay full price), it meets the Dietary Guidelines for Americans. While NSLP meals -- eaten by more than 31 million children, over half of all American students -- need to be improved, the worst food lurks in what's called à la carte service. That's where any kid can buy anything from cake to pizza or brand-name junk food. These heavily marketed choices are essentially unregulated. (Hard candy and gum are not allowed to be sold but chocolate bars are, for example.) "We offer many choices in the school library but no pornography," says Janet Poppendieck, Ph.D., author of Free for All: Fixing School Food in America. "We should offer an array of meals in school, but nothing unhealthy."
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I didn't finish my comment before it sent it. Parents you need to be responsible for your children. Be parents to your children. And how do we know that it's nots all the chemicals they are putting in the food that is making people fat. For some students that's the only meals they get for the day. So back off the school. You can't tell me that the one little meals the students get at school that's what making them fat.
2/5/2012 06:41:44 PM Report AbuseMeals from home are absolutely better, if you're doing it right! My daughter is picky and a light eater so I portion it right and I let her have a choice in what she has for lunch or she's not gonna eat it! You're not there to monitor what goes on in the cafeteria, so make sure they have a part in it and it's something healthy AND what they like. Making good choices starts at home, and HOPEFULLY, when she gets older and wants to buy school lunch, she knows what choices to make!
6/12/2011 12:46:00 AM Report Abusei am also a food service worker, the kids don't seem to mind the switch to whole grain breads, but do not like the brown rice, or whole grain pasta, and we offer LOTS of fresh fruit AND vegetable choices at every meal.i love to see one of my kids pick a vegetable over tater tots[witch they only get once a month!], or grab fresh fruit instead of juice for breakfast, that kind of influence comes from HOME! lisa D,
6/10/2011 11:45:04 AM Report AbuseMy 3-yr old daughter will never eat school lunches. First, I can save money by making her lunch instead of buying it. Second, I actually enjoy cooking & trying out new dishes, & I'm a pretty good cook. Third, she & I are vegetarians. I started her out as a vegetarian & instead of being a good, healthy diet for a kid, it becomes a way of life. In being a vegetarian, you learn to try every fruit & veggie there is, & you learn how to make them tasty without adding extra fat or calories.
3/24/2011 09:35:49 AM Report AbuseWell I was going to comment, as I can see others felt the same way. I am not only a mom but also a cook for our school. Not all shool districts are the same and we work hard getting our menu's to meet federal, state and parents requirements.
3/24/2011 08:33:29 AM Report AbuseOur country has the highest rate of obesity among children of grade school ages. Jamie Oliver, a well known and respected chef,had started the Food Revolution. Last year he had a brief show on tv highlighting a school in West Virginia and their poor cafeteria standards. But that school as bad as it was, is better than where my daughter goes to here in Orlando. I encourage anyone and everyone to look at his website and the Food Revolution and get more information.
3/23/2011 04:39:46 PM Report AbuseGet over yourselves and start researching what is on the menus and what the ingredients are BEFORE you make an absurd claim.
11/10/2010 01:19:22 PM Report Abuse4)parent's take one look @ a menu and see chicken nuggets and assume it's like the ones from McD so they must be bad. FYI people, school lunches here are BAKED, not FRIED like this article would insinuate. We do try to introduce new fruits and veggies to children but they refuse to eat it. You can't bring an obese child into the 1st grade and them after a year blame the school district for having a fat kid.
11/10/2010 01:19:11 PM Report AbuseI agree with carol-chris! Parent's need to stop blaming bad food choices on the school and take responsibility for themselves as well! My program deals with preschool and the children refuse to eat some of our meals because: 1)mom says milk is bad so tells them they shouldn't drink it, 2)mom says they only eat "mexican food" so they refuse to eat it, 3)we offer fresh fruits and vegetables and children won't even try it,
11/10/2010 01:18:43 PM Report AbusePt3...The sack lunches are a far cry from healthy, Capri Sun (juice drink, not 100% juice), fried chips, bologna sandwich on white bread and an Oreo cookie. Your article also mentions that nearly 17% of kids between the ages of 2-19 are obese; I don't see kids before age 5. Maybe the focus needs to be what is happening at home so that when I am offering the fresh fruits and vegetables and fat free milk the kids are not turning their noses up.
10/5/2010 01:08:54 PM Report AbusePt2...As a food service professional I make up 16.4% of the meals a child/student eats in a year. If a typical person eats 3 meals/day for 365 days/ yr that equals 1095 meals (not including snacks), if a student eats lunch in my cafeterias every school day that would be 180 lunches or 16.4%. If that same student never misses a day of school and eats breakfast and lunch that would be 360 meals or 32.9% of their annual meals. So the other 735 meals or 67.1% of their meals are coming from...HOME!
10/5/2010 01:08:19 PM Report AbuseThis type of information is so frustrating! When is the blame for childhood obesity going to be put on the parents? I agree, not all schools meals are created equal. I am a R.D. and a Director of Food Services. I provide WW hamburger/ hot dog buns & sub rolls. We bake our food never fry. I offer fat free white & chocolate and 1% white & strawberry milk; a fresh fruit and vegetable every day along with a canned fruit option. I use brown rice instead of white rice and low fat ranch dressing.
10/5/2010 01:06:51 PM Report AbuseNOT ALL SCHOOLS ARE CREATED EQUAL. OUR CHARTER SCHOOL OFFERS W/W PRODUCTS, FRESH FRUIT AND VEGETABLES DAILY. ALL OF OUR MEALS INCLUDE THESE STAPLES. THE CHILDREN ARE SERVED WELL BALANCED AND NUTRITIOUS MEALS. WE HAVE PIZZA JUST ON FRIDAY AS A TREAT. BC
9/27/2010 05:12:28 AM Report AbuseSchool lunches must meet federal nutrition standards limiting portion size and fat, so most schools serve lowfat/skim milk and bake their entrees instead of frying. A School Nutrition Association (SNA) survey has found that school meals are offering more whole grains, vegetarian options, fresh fruit and vegetables, and that schools are reducing the sodium and added sugar in foods. Get the facts about school meals by visiting www.traytalk.org. SNA President Nancy Rice
8/24/2010 10:40:00 AM Report Abuse