Introduction
Discussions among learning institutions, parents, and government agencies concern all aspects from the utilization of vending machines to the practice of protecting allergic children from such foods as peanuts. Parents have played a vital role as major forces that advocate healthy food in the United States school canteens. They also have the fundamental function of checking how different schools approach food service.1 The food offered to students in learning institutions should encompass a high quantity of whole grains, low-fat milk, vegetables, fruits, and legumes, in addition to the minimal use of processed and refined foods. With about 30% of children being either obese or overweight and over 30 million students taking part in school lunch programs, nutritional improvements form a vital strategy in the support of learners’ health. The majority of learning institutions in the United States are presently meeting the recommended nutritional guidelines for school lunches but much require being undertaken for all children to have easy access to healthy, nutritional food at all times to eliminate chances of poor eating habits. One of the many benefits of implementing strong policies that promote healthy school lunches is that every parent will be sure that their children have the opportunity to eat nutritious and balanced food in school. Federal rules should seek ways of ensuring less or no processed and refined food in learning institutions and that lunch programs in all schools do not give more than 30% of the students’ daily requirements and over 10% of saturated fat.2 Additionally, parents and government agencies should ensure that school lunches offer at least 30% of children’s daily requirements of vitamins and protein.1 The US Department of Agriculture and the Department of Health and Human Services should ensure that implemented policies support healthy school lunch programs in line with specific federal nutritional standards.
Background on the Problem
As countries across the globe engaged in the Second World War, the US became concerned with the health and military strength of its soldiers. At first, the purchase and sale of agricultural produce in abundance were deemed more significant than maintaining nutritional, well-balanced food in learning institutions.3 Nevertheless, most of the children from underprivileged families could not manage to cater to the cost of healthy school lunches. This made schools increasingly change their attention to accommodate such students. Such endeavors considerably reduced school revenue obtained from lunch programs in school and learning institutions found it difficult to keep up with the number of free meals that were on offer. This made schools come up with other ways of getting money to fund their different educational endeavors, which resulted in the introduction of vending machines that mainly provided junk and processed foods.
Over time, some schools in the US have started making a difference in the provision of healthy lunches for their students each day.4 A few schools have found that hiring trained chefs to cook healthy meals has been supported by a high number of parents and other stakeholders thereby generating sufficient funds from such programs.2 Sadly, this has not been adopted by all schools across the US. The quality of food that is served in many schools’ lunches in the name of healthy meals is exceedingly poor and was permitted to decline by the introduction of a new set of rules.
Soft drink traders should be discouraged from selling soda to students, particularly the ones at the elementary and middle levels. Moreover, vending machines should remain locked when students are in school and salad bars should be encouraged in lunchrooms. The goal of such plans is to offer healthy school lunches to students attributable to the rising cases of childhood obesity in the United States. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention affirm that from 1980 to around 2010, the proportion of school children between 5 and 12 years of age who are obese has risen from 7% to almost 18%.5,6 Similarly, the number of students with obesity from the age of 13 to 19 years increased from 5% to 18% over the three decades. In most middle schools across the US, food has been found to contain 600 to 700 calories while in elementary schools it ranges from 550 to 600 calories.
In the United States, approximately 65% of students get lunch from the school cafeteria and do not carry food from home.6 This shows the magnitude of the impact that could be felt if the US Department of Agriculture and the US Department of Health and Human Services fail to adopt effective policies to promote healthy school lunches. If such a high percentage of children become obese, it could spell disaster for the country. Schools should increasingly shift to the provision of healthy and delicious meals not only attributable to the inclusion of a high quantity of fresh farm produce but also based on such food being cooked from scratch and avoidance of processed products. The introduction of salad bars at learning institutions signifies that children will have the alternative of taking fresh fruits and vegetables each day and forming recommendable eating habits. Even for children from poor families, the consumption of at least a salad each day is simple and is a vital stride towards ensuring a healthy nation. Meals offered in schools should contain plenty of whole grains and vegetables, which should be reinforced by the provision of fruits, low-fat dairy products, and minimal fat and sodium.
Research has established that increased quantities of fat, processed products, junk food, sugar, and salt in school lunches have led to the rising childhood obesity epidemic in the United States. Currently, about one in every three schoolchildren in the US is either obese or overweight. Childhood obesity translates to increased cases of adult obesity and has been associated with numerous health problems such as hypertension, high cholesterol, diabetes, and sleep apnea to mention a few. Nevertheless, there is a range of improvements that could be implemented to enhance the quality of the health of food provided in school lunch programs.7 Apart from only offering nutritious school lunches, learning institutions should teach students about the recommended diet and encourage them to develop healthy eating habits away from school. To ensure that students get healthy school lunches, the United States Department of Agriculture and other concerned government agencies should implement stringent measures and directives. These will go a long way to ensuring that learners eat healthy food in school lunch programs and obtain nutrition education that will help them while away from their learning institutions.
Specific Policies Proposed and Involved Government Agencies
Schools should embark on effective policies that ensure the provision of an appropriate mix of meals from different food groups and subgroups, supported by a suitable calorie level. Such practice may entail hiring at least one nutritionist per school and will play a vital role in making sure that students obtain well-balanced and nutritious food that is vital to promoting their health. The consumption of components of every food group and subgroup offers a broad scope of nutrients and the quantities recommended ensure eating habits that are linked to positive health benefits. As much as possible, school lunch programs should ensure that students eat food components from different groups in nutrient-dense patterns.8 Whenever possible, nutrition education offered to students should be extended to their parents through the recommendation of the different food groups, underscoring nutrients for which every component is a major contributor, and describing particular considerations associated with every item. This will go a long way to ensuring that children do not only consume healthy food while at school but also home.
To offer each of the nutrients and possible health gains that differ across numerous forms of vegetables, learning institutions should include every form at least once a week in the lunch program. This will make sure that vegetable types differ over time and encompass the many available forms. In school lunches, vegetables should be provided in a nutrient-dense form that ensures the limited inclusion of butter, salts, and creamy sauces.9 The selection of canned or frozen vegetables should encourage the use of ones with low quantities of sodium. Healthy school lunches should include the provision of fruits, particularly whole fruits. When necessary school programs should offer pure fruit juice, which is equivalent to the provision of whole fruits. Schools can provide either fresh, frozen, dried, or canned fruits.
The nutritionally recommended quantity of fruits should contain 2000-calorie levels at most, which is equivalent to about two cups of 100% fruit juices every day. Even though fruit juice may be provided in place of whole fruits, it lacks dietary fiber and could result in the consumption of excess calories. Therefore, school lunches should as much as possible offer whole fruits. Whenever juices are offered, schools should make sure that they are 100% pure, devoid of additional sugars.8 Moreover, in case canned fruits are to be provided, careful selection should consider the choice of alternatives that have minimal or no added sugars. Canned fruits that have low quantities of added sugars may be provided in school lunch programs on the condition that calories present in added sugars do not surpass 10% and the recommended calorie consumption falls within limits.
Enhanced balance and flexibility within food groups provided in school lunches should include weekly recommendations for subgroups such as soy products, seafood, nuts, eggs, beef, pork, and poultry, mutton, and seeds. A particular recommendation for about eight ounce-equivalents of seafood each week should be encompassed in the 2000-calorie level.7 A half-ounce of seeds and nuts is equal to one ounce of protein foods. Since they are high in calories consumed, nuts and seeds should be offered in small proportions when selected to replace protein foods instead of their inclusion in the meal. The selection of protein foods should make sure that seeds and nuts are not salted and that poultry and meats are provided in lean forms. Although processed poultry and meats are suitable sources of saturated fats and sodium, their consumption should be highly discouraged. When processed poultry and meats are provided in rare cases, it should be ensured that added sugars, total calories, sodium, and saturated fats are within recommended levels. The provision of protein nutrients from plants has the benefit of making sure that vegetarian alternatives are accommodated.
Over 90% of secondary schools in the United States have vending machines, which is a great problem in efforts towards the adoption of strong policies to promote healthy school lunches.10 Although they generate increased revenue in learning institutions, the high sugar, salt, and fat content in snacks available in vending machines are things that schools should not give to students as a substitute for healthy food. In schools that choose to retain their vending machines, parents should advocate policies that alter items provided in them. Instead of supplying soda, snacks, and junk food, schools should ensure that vending machines offer fruits and nuts.
The United States Department of Agriculture (with its offices such as the Centre for Nutrition Policy and Promotion and the National Agricultural Library) and the Department of Health and Human Services are government agencies that should be involved in the implementation of effective policies that promote the provision of healthy school lunches. The Department of Agriculture engages foodservice experts and leaders in different learning institutions, in addition to farmers and producers who supply healthy United States-grown foods that children consume in their school lunches. This agency identifies the significance of providing healthy food to millions of students across the country.4 Devoid of a wholesome and nutritious lunch program, children will be exposed to health problems that could interfere with their academic success or future life. The Department of Agriculture should create policies that give foodservice experts high local control of school lunch programs and decision-making on the procurement of food supplies. Foodservice professionals are experienced and understand what children should consume. Their tireless efforts deserve recognition and support since they have a major role in improving the health of the current and next generation.
To assist provide school foodservice professionals the tools and support they require to ensure health lunches in all learning institutions, policies implemented by the Department of Agriculture should provide further flexibilities and guidelines for serving the meals. Such policies will create opportunities that enable commercially generated smoothies to be permitted in school lunches by offering necessary guidance on serving such options as dairy products in an effort of enabling the incorporation of healthy, innovative foods.6 Moreover, through policies made by the Department of Agriculture, the government should support schools with resources to provide salad bars and ensure that they are excellently positioned to teach healthy eating habits to children in the US, and occasionally to their parents. Flexibilities given to foodservice experts in learning institutions across the US should be expanded on the ones provided by the Department of Agriculture concerning increased alternatives around whole grains, sodium, and milk. The Department of Agriculture should keep encouraging learning institutions to meet children’s nutritional requirements and tastes while assisting them to attain the recommended daily needs.
The Department of Agriculture should make policies that support farm-to-school initiatives. Such policies should solicit school grants in all states in support of healthy food provision in lunch programs for millions of children across the country. They also generate new economic opportunities for local ranchers, farmers, suppliers, and producers and may motivate students to mull over future careers in the field of agriculture.8 Moreover, the Department of Agriculture’s Food and Nutrition Service should operate towards increasing food security and promoting nutritious food in school lunches and among American citizens. Administration nutrition assistance programs should support the United States’ agricultural abundance to make sure that all children and underprivileged families have healthy food all the time. Poor nutrition at home may counter the benefits realized in having healthy school lunches and a high number of children may end up obese or overweight despite such efforts. However, effective policies by the Department of Agriculture’s Food and Nutrition Service will ensure that apart from children having healthy food in school lunches, they also have nutritious meals at home.
Healthy children learn better hence nutritious school lunches will play a vital role in improved performance as students’ absenteeism associated with weight-related problems will be minimized. Effective policies implemented by government agencies will ensure that students gain nutritionally and academically.7 Children who eat healthy foods get vital nutrients that they require to thrive mentally and physically. Moreover, such students do not only perform well in the classroom with improved grades but also with better behavior and attendance. Effective school lunch programs will provide healthy meals to students, which will keep them energized to excel all through the day.
Engaging with Groups that Have a Stake in Food Policy Change
Parents, media organizations, government agencies, school management, and advocacy groups have a stake in food policy change. Engaging with the different groups through holding discussions with them will make them understand the need and significance of healthy school lunches hence moving the policy forward into laws, recommendations, or regulations. Advocacy groups are vital in the implementation of laws, recommendations, or regulations for the adoption of healthy school lunches in the United States.6 Through their campaigns advocacy groups will assist in lobbying for enhanced awareness of the significance of marketing and advertisements of healthy food, which can go a long way to creating pressure that pushes for effective regulations.
Media agencies have a powerful role in the advertisement of recommended nutritional habits for children. This is attributable to their influential role in designing commercials, website pages, and print sources. They also have a strong interest in ads meant for children since revenues generated from such advertisements assist in catering to the cost of programming. In reaction to advocate pressure, some media agencies have created their regulations regarding the kind or frequency of advertisement they permit for a given food product during their programs or in their different materials such as magazines, newspapers, and social media platforms, and web pages. Moreover, popular characters on TV programs are often used by food companies in the promotion of their products.10 Companies such as Sesame Workshop, Nickelodeon, and Disney have embarked on approaches to leasing cartoon characters in the promotion of healthy foods.
Finances from food companies and the government through its agencies such as the United States Department of Agriculture and the Department of Health and Human Services can facilitate school management’s plans. The funds can assist in making regulations of ensuring the provision and sale of healthy food within the school compound. The majority of students in the US spend about seven hours in school each day hence the desire of food companies and distributors to sell their products to learners in this environment is high.3 Over and above controlling the type of food products sold to children within the school compound, regulations set by school management can make sure that learning institutions teach children and parents healthy consumption habits and discourage eating of junk food, which may counter such mission.
Parents have a critical role to play in teaching children healthy nutrition habits, buying suitable products for them, and cooking nutritious food at home. They act as gatekeepers for nearly all the food that children eat. Nonetheless, the nutritional patterns of many adults in America are not near ideal, and there lies a strong relationship between their consumption habits and that of their children. Since every parent desires to see their children always strong and healthy, increased awareness from stakeholders such as the school management and media agencies can make them balance advertisements of different food companies with their families’ decisions and recommendations to have an overall nutritional diet. However, attributable to issues such as stress, insufficient knowledge, and inadequate monetary resources, some parents are not able to maintain such balance.2 Apart from increased awareness and nutrition education courses, programs should be developed with recommendations and support from government agencies to help address parents’ challenges in the provision of healthy food at home.
Parental pressure could force a change of regulations in the widely condemned issue of using vending machines in learning institutions because the majority of them mainly sell junk food and soda. Most schools in the United States utilize revenues from vending machines to support after-school programs. Parents have the clout to maintain the tendency to move toward healthy foods even if it is a step at a time.5 Different recommendations have been developed by school management and media agencies concerning the best means of changing or strengthening policies associated with the marketing of food products that target children. Such policy recommendations span a variety of venues and advertisements and may be categorized under regulations, inducements, and knowledge creation.
Although some advocacy groups propose the creation of regulations for a complete federal prohibition of advertisement of food products directed to children, others recommend that companies work jointly with government agencies. This will help in the generation of a mutually agreed-upon set of values through which the advertisement of food products will be regulated. On this note, food companies should implement self-regulation approaches to ensure the manufacture and advertisement of healthy products.9 The set regulation mechanisms should include making companies transparent, including representatives from different sectors such as the US Department of Health and Human Services, the ministry of health, and the Department of Agriculture to the Board of Directors. The approach will assist in the creation of nutritional standards of food products, improvement of monitoring and conformity of advertisements, and broadening of the scale of regulatory oversight to developing types of media such as the Internet and promotions within learning institutions.
Government agencies should advocate the enactment of laws that will require the United States Department of Agriculture to revise dietary standards for school lunch programs anchored in dietetic guidelines from health and nutrition professionals. Moreover, the law should require the United States Department of Health and Human Services to publish the set standards. Such laws’ directives to school lunch nutritional recommendations should encompass the reduction of refined and processed foods and increased use of fresh fruits, nuts, whole grains, vegetables, and legumes. Furthermore, the law should require all milk offered to be either fat-free or low-fat, with minimal sodium content in food products, among other guidelines.10 This will ensure that all schools in the United States meet the set quality standards for the benefit of the children, parents, and the nation.
Conclusion
Studies show that augmented quantities of fat, junk food, sugar, processed products, and salt in school meals have resulted in the increasing childhood obesity epidemic in the US. With approximately 30% of children being either overweight or obese and over 30 million students participating in school lunch programs, dietary improvements form a vital strategy in the support of their health. Parents, government agencies, school management, media organizations, and advocacy groups should play a fundamental role as major forces that support healthy food in American schools and homes. Even though some advocacy groups suggest the establishment of regulations for the federal prohibition of marketing food products directed to students, others propose that companies should work in cooperation with government agencies. Food provided to children in learning institutions should include a high quantity of whole grains, vegetables, fruits, low-fat milk, and legumes, as well as minimal use of processed and refined foods. The United States Department of Agriculture and the Department of Health and Human Services should make sure that implemented policies support healthy school meals according to specific federal dietary standards.
References
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- Kam CD. “And why is that a partisan issue?” Source cues, persuasion, and school lunches. The Journal of Politics. 2020;82(1):1-5.
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- Mozer L, Johnson DB, Podrabsky M, Rocha A. School lunch entrées before and after implementation of the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010. Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. 2019;119(3):490-499.
- Rida Z, Hall E, Hasnin S, Coffey J, Dev DA. The perception of school food-service professionals on the implementation of the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010: a mixed-methods study. Public Health Nutrition. 2019;22(11):1960-1970.
- Chapman LE, Richardson S, McLeod L, Rimm E, Cohen J. Pilot evaluation of aggregate plate waste as a measure of students’ school lunch consumption. Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. 2019;119(12):2093-2098.