Ninety-nine percent of public schools design their meal plans based on the National School Lunch Program and 83 percent of all schools in the U.S. use it.
Considering the nutritional standards guiding this program have not been updated since 1995, the Institute of Medicine decided to create new guidelines that would bring school meals up to date and incorporate new advancements in our understanding of proper nutrition for kids.
In the institute's report, researchers call for more fruit at breakfast, including whole fruit and less juice, more whole grain-rich foods, and a greater amount and variety of vegetables at school-provided breakfast and lunch.
The report also says that certain things should be removed from the lunch program altogether, such as whole milk and foods containing trans fat. Instead, the report suggests offering only skim or 1% milk to kids and using limited amounts of unsaturated oils in cooking.
Overall, the report emphasizes the need for fresh fruit and vegetables, fewer refined carbohydrates, and less fat, and offers suggestions for how to put these changes into place so that schools can offer both nutritious and delicious options for students.
School Lunches
Our children attend Malpass Corner Elementary and West Pender Middle School in Pender County. My children take their lunch to school every day. If you want to see why, I wish you would come in one day for lunch!!! I do not see how prisoners eat better lunches than our school children. Seriously, look into how well prisoners eat compared to our law abiding school children. I am disgusted that hot dogs and chicken patties (a joke!)are served every day in the elementary school. Have you ever seen a small child trying to eat an orange that is cut in halves instead of quarters?
My daughter said at middle school pizza and fries are served every day. How is this meeting nutritional guidelines? This may be the only decent meal some children get and it is far from decent!!! Yes, we can look at the school lunch menu and say, "Oh, that doesn't look bad." Well, looks can be deceiving!
School Lunch
My child attends Acme Delco Elem. and I guarantee our lunch food does not look like that in the picture above. They do need better lunches all the way around.