Due to shrinking financial resources accompanied by increased nutritional responsibilities, school food service professionals are employing economies of scale (central kitchens, cooperative purchasing, computerization, and high-tech food preparation equipment) and revenue-expansion opportunities (catering, vending machines, and "a la…

Describes initiatives in New York State to meet student nutrition needs, including the Statewide Training Network for School Food Service Workers and the Nutrition Comes Alive in the Cafeteria program. Emphasizes the role of local boards of education in supporting better nutrition in school lunch and breakfast programs. (FMW)

An Arizona high school district chose to stop the National School Lunch Program in order to eliminate the unpopular components of the required meal pattern. Menu selections were narrowed down to the most requested items; nutritious food was offered at low prices; and fewer students left the campus at lunchtime. (MLF)

Explains why privately-run lunch programs are providing better nutritional value at less cost than state-run programs. Several examples are provided of schools where lunch program privatization has increased participation and cafeteria discipline, improved nutritional and food quality, and has done so with financial efficiency. (GR)

Pending federal legislation would require that school meals meet federal dietary guidelines. However, food service directors and nutritionists see other obstacles to improving the nutritional content of school meals such as government red tape, costs, and difficulty in changing people's tastes. Hundreds of schools, usually in affluent communities,…

Despite federal and state regulations prohibiting the sale of nonnutritious foods in competition with school lunch programs, powerful market forces are keeping vending machines in schools. In 1997, schools generated $750 million for the vending machine market. Soft-drink companies are offering million-dollar contracts to some schools. Student…

Mary Story, Karen Kaphingst, and Simone French argue that U.S. schools offer many opportunities for developing obesity-prevention strategies by providing more nutritious food, offering greater opportunities for physical activity, and providing obesity-related health services. Meals at school are available both through the U.S. Department of…

This manual contains information about the selection and implementation of a meal counting and claiming system for the National School Lunch Program (NSLP) and the School Breakfast Program (BSP). Federal reimbursement is provided for each meal that meets program requirements and is served to an eligible student. Part 1 explains the six elements of…

Prepared for food manufacturers, this publication contains instructions for calculating the contribution that a meat or poultry product makes toward the meal pattern requirements of child nutrition programs. It also contains instructions on how to apply for and obtain the approval for a label containing a child nutrition statement. These…

This manual establishes policies and procedures for the Child Nutrition (CN) Labeling Program, a voluntary federal program run by the United States Department of Agriculture. The program is responsible for reviewing a product formulation to determine the contribution a single serving of that product makes toward the child nutrition meal pattern…

This is a summary of the final report of a study (begun in 1979) of the National School Lunch, School Breakfast, and Special Milk Programs. The major objectives of the evaluation were to (1) identify existing information on the school nutrition programs; (2) identify determinants of participation in the programs and develop statistical models for…

This collection of lessons and teaching suggestions is designed to aid local school lunch managers in fulfilling compliance with the requirement that school lunch programs and personnel participate in nutrition education. Provided in the first section of the booklet are general instructions for using the booklet, a guide to lesson plans for…

This paper describes the early history, present status, and future trends of the Bureau of School Lunches of the New York City Board of Education. A review of its early history indicates that although various citizen groups and the Department of Welfare served lunches to needy children prior to 1946, it was the passage of the National School Lunch…

This guide is designed to encourage and stimulate school nutrition managers to cooperate with classroom teachers in an active nutrition education program. The suggestions in the guide have been experienced and tested in the Fulton County Schools of Atlanta, Georgia. Contents of the chapters cover the following: (1) an outline of the roles of…

The two basic family feeding programs are food stamps and commodity distribution. The current food stamp program provides the poor with spending power enough to purchase at the level of the Department of Agriculture's Economy Food Plan. The dollar equivalent of this plan is 112 dollars a month for a family of four. This amounts to an average per…