Click here to visit the new home of that's fit!

Hot on HuffPost Healthy Living:

AOL.com
MAIL

En Español

That's Fit

Send Feedback

Parents rate school food as 'OK'

Posted on Aug 20th 2007 8:39PM by Brian White

Filed Under: Healthy Kids, Nutrition & Supplements

I've seen changes (slow ones) at public schools in my area in the last year or so regarding the nutritional content of school lunches. When I first say "baked french fries" in instead of "fried french fries," that was a good day.

In a new USAToday poll, about 66 percent of parents questioned that they were satisfied that school lunches were nutritious. While I'm not 100% there yet, I have seen good changes, although more is needed. The same parents said that schools did not offer inappropriate foods at a rate of 48 percent as well.

But -- and I love this one -- when these same parents were asked if school lunches should contain more fresh fruits, veggies and whole-grain products, two-thirds answered "yes." That one I completely agree with.

Source

1 Comment

Tags: cafeteria food, CafeteriaFood, school food, SchoolFood

Around the Web

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Christine 8-28-2007 @ 11:34AM

The major problem with school lunches is one that I've never once seen addressed in the media. It's not the fat or sodium content. It's not the lack of fruits, vegetables or whole grains. It's the fact that school lunches are designed, calorie and nutrient-wise, around the free lunch program. For children living in poverty, a free school lunch may be the only decent meal they get. School systems know this, and have gone overboard on both the size and calorie-content of the meal, knowing it has to sustain some children all day long. (My daughter's school actually confirmed this for me. On early release days, when the kids are let out of school at lunch time, the entire school shifts all the lunch periods earlier so that no child has to give up their in-school lunch.)

Now fortunately, most children have reliable access to food outside of school - their school lunch doesn't have to make up the lion's share of their nutritional intake. But unfortunately, these children are getting the same large, calorie-dense lunches as the kids who get little else to eat.