School LunchesBy Michael, Blake,

and Louie

The Problem With the passing of the Healthy, Hunger-Free

Kids Act in 2010, the taste of school lunches has gone from bad to worse. How do we solve this?

The Policy “Improving child nutrition is

the focal point of the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010.” This is the mission of the Obama Administration’s new nationwide school lunch policy and why they are being changed

The bill was introduced in the US Senate by Blanche Lincoln, Chairwoman of the Senate Agriculture Committee. It was later approved by the Senate by unanimous voice vote on August 5, 2010

Benefits Increased the number of eligible children for school meal

programs by 115,000 Uses census data to determine student need in high-poverty

areas, rather than relying on paper applications. Authorizes USDA to provide meals in more after-school

programs in "high-risk" areas Increases access to drinking water in schools

Improved Quality Requires school districts

to be audited every 3 years to see if they have met nutrition standards

Requires easier access for students and parents about nutritional facts of meals

Improves recall procedures for school food

Provides training for school lunch providers

Nutrition Gives USDA the authority to set new

standards for food sold in lunches during the regular day, including vending machines.

Authorizes additional funds for the new standards for federal-subsidized school lunches.

Provides resources for schools and communities to utilize local farms and gardens to provide fresh produce.

Provides resources to increase nutritional quality of food provided by USDA

Sets minimal standards for school wellness policies

Taste While the new school lunches are

healthier, taste seems to have been forgotten

Even parents, who are all about their children being healthy, think these new lunches taste like “vomit”

“Even before the Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010, school lunches tasted terrible to me and I watched in astonishment how much of that food, over which so much money was spent and labor expended, went straight into the garbage can untouched.”

So what is wrong? Kids do not like the new meal

plan “Even before the Healthy

Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010, school lunches tasted terrible to me and I watched in astonishment how much of that food, over which so much money was spent and labor expended, went straight into the garbage can untouched.”

Even with the cost reductions, students are leaving the meals untouched due to taste

Survey To prove our observation that the taste quality

of school lunches has indeed deteriorated, we conducted a short survey. We asked 15 people a series of questions which can be seen on the following slide, along with a open-ended question.

Survey and Results Taken on Sep 17, 2013

Gender? 7 male, 8 female

Grade? 2 freshman, 5 sophomore, 2 junior, 6 senior

Rate the selection of lunches from 1-10, 10 being highest Average rating of 5.61

Rate the healthiness of lunches from 1-10, 10 being highest Average rating of 6.24

Rate the overall taste of lunches from 1-10, 10 being highest Average rating of 4.23

“What can we do to improve?” This question was asked at the end of the

survey, and came up with many different answers. Yet, they all had the same general idea. The idea was thrown out that there should be the option for higher quality meals in addition to the cheap meals. Another simply promoted a wider selection of meals. One more noticeable trend was the desire for better taste than price or healthiness.

Interviews In addition, to further supplement our

research, we conducted 2 interviews regarding this topic. We asked the same questions, except we replaced the 1-10 rating system with “describe how you feel about…”

This allowed us to get a more in-depth view of the opinions regarding school lunches

Interview 1 Conducted on Sep 17, 2013

Hunter Oxford, Senior, Male “I feel as if there is simply no focus on the

actual quality of food, and that all we care about is the price. We need more focus put on the actual taste of what we offer.”

“I think what we can do is simply invest in better quality food for non at-risk school areas. For students who have money to spend on good food should be able to receive good food.”

Interview 2 Conducted on Sep 17, 2013

Timmy Gardner, Freshman, Male “The lunch here is a little better from middle

school, but its still not very good. I’d much rather pack from home, since I love my mom’s PBJ sandwiches. It is good that its cheap and all, but it really doesn’t taste too good. Nor do I really think its that healthy.”

“I just think that overall as a country we don’t spend enough money making school lunches taste good or be healthy. We just need to invest more in it.”

The Solution? Split the meal plan into

two sectors One line for the more

tasteful, less nutritional and more expensive meals

One line for the less tasteful, but healthier and less costly meals

This gives room for choice among students, while still leaving economic options open for parents

Tier 1 Meals Will run more expensive

over all, as they will be of higher taste quality

Will have a much wider selection than Tier 2 meals

Will generally be less health-oriented than Tier 2 meals

This will appeal to middle-upper class students who have dispensable income

Tier 2 Meals Will run less expensive

over all, as taste quality will not be a primary focus

Will have less of a selection than Tier 1 meals

Will be more health-focused than Tier 1 meals

This will appeal to lower class students whose families do not have dispensable income

Sources http://educateiowa.gov/index.php?option=co

m_content&view=article&id=1769catid=838 http://www.fns.usda.gov/cnd/governance/legisl

ation/cnr_2010.htm http://www.letsmove.gov/first-lady-column-he

althy-hunger-free-kids-act http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tag/healthy-hu

nger-free-kids-act