2. Implementation of School Lunch
Programs
President Harry S. Truman signed program act in
1946.
Program came to be to monitor and enhance
children's health.
Used to encourage children to live a healthier
3. Requirements
Contain no more than
30% of calories from fat.
Provide 1/3 of the
Dietary Reference
intakes (DRIs) for
calories, protein, vitamin
A, vitamin C, iron, and
calcium.
Contain no more than
10% of calories from
saturated fat.
5. Why some schools have opted
out.
Believe requirements are difficult to follow.
Following requirements seems more expensive.
Children are not liking less-greasy foods.
7. Success Rate
Over 101,000 schools participate.
Over 5 billion lunches served.
Over 31 million students served.
8.
9. “Good nutrition is essential to
good learning.”
-President Lyndon B. Johnson
Editor's Notes
School lunch programs were not the first act of school foodservices but was the first to establish a set of rules or requirements that schools needed to follow. The school lunch program was brought up from the cause of men being returned from world war II because they did not meet health standards. This initiated the act. They wanted to start teaching people from a young age how to eat healthier and be healthy. “a measure of national security, to safeguard the health and well-being of the Nation’s children and to encourage the domestic consumption of nutritious agricultural commodities.”
Every lunch menu designed must include this requirements for them to be able to meet standards and get reimbursement from the state. The dietary reference intakes is basically a system developed to list nutritional recommendations. This system is used in any government industries, such as schools and hospitals
The minimum requirements a school lunch (breakfast) must have are shown above.
The requirements given by the government have become difficult for some of the schools to follow. Food availability has become a problem for some schools as well as food cost. Another problem that arose was that some schools did not have the right equipment to cook the healthier meals. It was also another cost to train employees to cook healthier. Children did not like the requirements for the program either. Their palates did appeal to the healthier foods. Making them throw food out and schools losing money.
The school lunch programs were brought up because we wanted to give children what they might not be having in their homes. This includes a well balanced meal with at least one fruit or vegetables in them. Including whole grains, proteins and dairy. Not implementing these requirements to school lunches can cause serious problems in our children. We can control what they eat (calories, fat). For obese children this can mean cutting they're fat intake in half, or providing them with another type of eating style. There are also low-income children who might not have a whole hearty meal in their homes, so we try to include at least 1/3 of the nutrients they might need for the day. Taking this away from them can really affect them. If schools opt out and decide not to follow these guidelines they will not receive reimbursement for the free or low-cost meals they serve to low-income children, this means they will most likely have to operate out of the program.
Although some schools have opted out of this program, there have been many success stories. With so many children being fed, this program has a lot of responsibilities and with so much success being shown, it is likely this program is in fact working.
A study showed that students favored white milk after the program had been running. This shows that by routine children can learn to favor healthier options. Choosing white milk over the flavored shows that this program has positive outcome.
The school lunch program was not only formed to provide children with an adequate meal but to help them be more aware in the classroom.
