Schools are increasingly turning to fast-food restaurants such as Taco Bell, McDonald's, and Pizza Hut to fill the stomachs of kids turned off by standard school lunches. Kids are delighted, but critics say fast-food infiltration of school cafeterias encourages poor nutrition. Schools might consider adopting lighter fast-food fare or starting…

School lunches must be nutritious, filling, and appealing. The school cafeteria has become an increasingly important place to serve healthful meals and teach good eating habits. The article describes schools that have organized better meals and discusses how parent-teacher organizations can help bring better nutrition to school lunches. (SM)

This year's budget cleaver has chopped away at school cafeteria budgets across the country. In some districts, this means fewer choices on the lunch line, fewer staffers, deteriorating equipment, and more sales of snack and processed foods. Some schools have dropped the School Lunch Program because of budget cuts. (MLH)

Some young people refuse to eat anything that once had a face. Since a vegetarian child can make food choices just as unhealthy as those of a meat-eating child, nutritionists recommend that school food-service directors adapt traditional nutritional foods that children like to a vegetarian menu. (MLF)

With nearly 27 million school children participating in the National School Lunch Program and in 1999 $5.46 billion spent to fund it, school lunch is clearly a part of the experience of schooling for most children. But, if one accepts the definition of curriculum as the planned experiences that happen in school (Ornstein & Levine, 1989), then…

These hearing transcripts present testimony to the Senate Committee on Agriculture regarding the School Lunch and Breakfast Programs. Statements were made by several senators, the president of the American School Food Service Association (Connecticut); a school food service program director (Florida); the director of nutrition and education for…

This document provides information on: (1) the number of schools that withdrew from the National School Lunch Program (NSLP); (2) characteristics of schools that withdrew; (3) reasons why schools withdrew; and (4) lunch services offered at the schools after they withdrew. Data were obtained through a questionnaire of 352 school food authorities…

This General Accounting Office (GAO) report examines the problems encountered by school food service programs in their efforts to meet the Department of Agriculture's nutrient requirements for school lunches while increasing student participation and reducing food waste and program costs. The report is based on an evaluation of two senior high…

This is a study guide for school food service workers. It is designed to accompany a film series as part of a structured course in nutrition. The content of the course is based on the nutrition education concepts formulated by the Federal Interagency Committee on Nutrition Education. These include (1) the way the body uses food; (2) the nutrient…

This is a guide designed to help school personnel to plan Type A school lunches and to understand the relationship of Type A lunch requirements to children's dietary needs. The nutritional requirements of the Federally established Type A lunch pattern, which utilizes agricultural surplus food, are described. Procedures and amounts for planning for…

This final report of the Title I Task Force on School Support Services shows that poor children in America suffer disproportionately from health and nutrition problems. The report explains why ESEA should be used to reduce these problems in Title I schools. The report also examines current health and nutrition support service programs in Title I…

Recent increases in child obesity have sparked concerns about competitive foods--foods sold to students at school that are not part of federally reimbursable school meals. The nutritional value of these foods is largely unregulated, and students can often purchase these foods in addition to or instead of school meals. Nearly 9 out of 10 schools…

This report, the fifth in a serious of reports about the evaluation of the National School Lunch Program focuses on issues relating to applications for free or reduced-price meals. In particular, it presents (1) an impact analysis of the effects of the pilot policies on the number of applications submitted, and (2) a descriptive analysis of the…

Noting that persistent poverty, hunger, and food insecurity remain an important challenge in the United States, this report of the Food Research and Action Center details food and nutrition programs throughout the country. The report, designed for use by governments, advocates, religious organizations, schools, service providers, and non-profit…

In September 2003, the U. S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) contracted with ALTA Systems to conduct a project with the goal of providing a comprehensive overview of the relationship between poverty, program participation and obesity by conducting an in depth literature review; and convening an expert panel. The…