|
|
The
views expressed
on this page are soley those of the author and do not
necessarily
represent the views of County News Online
|
The Daily Signal
Study: Kids Are
Tossing Out the Government’s Healthy Lunch Program
Natalie Johnson
September 07, 2015
The government’s push to mandate kids to eat healthier is finding its
efforts at the bottom of a waste bin.
A study published last week in Public Health Reports found that while
kids may be piling more fruits and vegetables onto their plates as
federal guidelines require, most are just tossing the healthy additions
into the trash.
Researcher Sarah Amin found waste more common after the Department of
Agriculture implemented guidelines—championed by first lady Michelle
Obama—that require children participating in the federal school lunch
program to accompany their meals with either a fruit or veggie.
“We saw this as a great opportunity to access the policy change and ask
a really important question, which was, ‘Does requiring a child to
select a fruit or vegetable under the updated national school lunch
program guidelines that came into effect in 2012 correspond with
increased fruit and vegetable consumption?’” Amin, who led the study,
told CBS. “The answer was clearly no.”
Researchers from the University of Vermont visited two elementary
schools and took photographs of students’ lunch trays before and after
they ate. They repeated the experiment twice: once in the spring of
2012 before the USDA requirement was in place and then again the
following year when it was in full effect.
Unsurprisingly, they found that when mandated to do so, students put 29
percent more fruits and vegetables on their plates. But kids were not
actually eating the healthy adornments: consumption dropped 13 percent
and food waste increased by 56 percent after the USDA requirement.
The findings come one month before Congress is set to vote on whether
to reauthorize the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010, which in part
provides funding for federal school lunches.
Daren Bakst, a research fellow in agricultural policy at The Heritage
Foundation, said while the study is limited in scope, it confirms
reports from school officials and students that “there’s tons of plate
waste.”
“Congress only needs to pay attention to what school officials and
students are saying to know that the new standards are a disaster,” he
said. “This is really an issue of whether the federal government and
its prescriptive one size fits all approach is better than respecting
local government and parents.”
Despite the study’s findings, Amin said she believes the guidelines
will ultimately improve children’s nutrition.
“Change takes time. This really rocks the school nutrition world. We
have to have patience with this and not give up hope yet,” she said.
Read this and other articles at The Daily Signal
|
|
|
|
