Whole foods a rare sight on school lunch tray

Time was, school lunches featured “Salisbury steak” and mashed potatoes, with a side of corn as a vegetable. You could mash it all together into what comic Patton Oswalt calls a failure pile in a sadness bowl, washed down with strawberry milk and chased with a bright green mint chocolate chip ice cream cone. Yep, those were the days.

But anyone who has attended public school in the last fifty years knows that complaints about lunch are legion. The purpose of public school lunches hasn’t changed since they began unofficially during the Great Depression, and were codified in the 1946 National School Lunch Act. As Marion Nestle observed in Food Politics, the intent was “to help dispose of surplus commodities owned by the government as a result of price-support agreement with farmers, and to help prevent nutritional deficiencies among low-income schoolchildren.”

Because they relied on surplus commodities, the meals were “high in fat, saturated fat, sugar, and salt.” Sound familiar?

More recently, the federal Department of Agriculture (USDA) has released its Dietary Guidelines for Americans 2010, observing that:

Cookies, cakes, pizza, and soda are the top “energy” sources in our kids’ diets.

Soda contributes a third of energy and fluid weight of what kids drink.

Children average less than two servings of vegetables a day; a third of those are white potatoes, while dark green and orange veggies make up less than 5%.

In Highland Park, certain “junk” snacks and cereals have been eliminated due to concerns about food dyes. Yet at Bartle School, ice cream and flavored milk are available every day at lunch.

Comments from parents about local schools’ lunches run from “I’m not impressed,” to “some changes have been made, but some things are pretty unhealthy.” Some take steps to limit their children’s access to certain sugary foods by calling the food service people in charge of their cafeteria. But these are largely underpaid food service company workers who are subject to hazardous working conditions themselves, according to a recent report by the Rutgers Center for Women and Work.

Decisions are made at many levels, from Congress and the USDA, to state Ag departments and legislatures, down to school boards and administrators who outsource school lunch and the food service companies they outsource to. New Jersey Farm to School Network’s Beth Feehan says, “The schools have been letting the companies dictate what gets sold… Shelf-stable food is the easiest thing to move. But at what cost to our wellness and lifespan?”

For instance:

We send $9-plus billion to the federal government for the NSLP; in the process, the USDA’s buying up of surplus commodities helps fund agribusinesses’ toxic growing practices, destroying our topsoil and the environment.

A 1995 USDA rule mandates that NSLP-participating schools must offer flavored milks, unless they represent less than 1% of total milk consumption at the school.

According to Food & Water Watch, “There is nothing stopping your school from serving hormone-free milk other than the need for some parental advocacy.”

Some Good News
Jersey Fresh Farm to School Week legislation is moving through the state legislature. The state agriculture department is making forays into promoting locally grown produce for school lunch programs, and Representative Rush Holt has introduced the Farm to School Improvements Act in Congress.

Among their initiatives, the NJ Farm to School Network is working with the Farm Bureau to develop educational materials, and with Elijah’s Promise to develop food products from local-grown produce. Highland Park schools also have a “Nutrition Committee,” which you can attend (contact the Assistant Superintendent’s office for the schedule).

What can you do? Feehan says, "Educate yourself the most you can about where food comes from. Be curious. The more [parents] know, the more we’re equipped with a body of people who can push.”