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.

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