Study Finds that Kids like Real Food

There is a commonly held notion swirling around school cafeterias that goes something like this: Children will not eat healthy foods. If we improve school lunches, children simply won't eat the food or they'll throw most of it away, and school lunch sales will decline. As a result, school children across the country end up eating highly processed, high-fat foods that tend to look like this:


Contrary to this notion, a recent study by three economists finds that "the conventional wisdom that you can't serve healthier meals because kids won't eat them is false," said Benjamin Senauer, one of the authors of the study.

Key Findings of the Study:
-Schools serving the healthiest foods did not see a decrease in demand.
-Serving healthy foods does require higher labor costs; however, this is offset by lower costs for more nutritious foods such as fruits and vegetables compared with processed foods.

"The study also pointed out that school districts are allowed to charge their lunch programs for indirect costs such as electricity or janitorial services for their cafeterias. The authors said that can be abused by cash-strapped districts charging their lunch programs high overhead; they recommended tighter limits on those charges." (Associated Press)

What this means: Through the National School Lunch Program, schools receive money from the Federal Government for every free or reduced price lunch they serve. In a cash-strapped district with a high number of students from low-income familes, the school might receive $2.50 for every meal they serve. Some districts will pull as much as $1.50 of this to pay for overhead costs, leaving only $1.00/meal to purchase student lunches. What kind of "meal" do you think you could buy for $1.00?

The article also identified a series of obstacles, as well as, policy solutions to help improve the foods American children are eating, including:

Obstacle #1: Minimum calorie requirements for schools allow schools to meet the minimum requirements for vitamins and minerals by simply serving more food, rather than nutrient-dense foods (colorful fruits and vegetables tend to be nutrient dense, compared to French fries which are mostly starch and fat from deep-frying). Recommended Solution: Establish a target calorie range with a maximum and minimum to ensure that schools meet their nutrition requirements by serving nutrient dense foods instead of over-serving minimally nutritious foods.
Obstacle #2: Many school kitchen facilities are insufficient for the sanitary preparation of fresh, healthy foods. Recommended Solution: Develop local, state, or federal one-time grants to upgrade school kitchen facilities and train staff to enable healthy food preparation.
Obstacle #3: Schools will often use a significant portion of their lunch budget to cover overhead costs, leaving only a small amount to purchase foods, often resulting in low-quality foods. Recommended Solution: Require that schools meet their nutritional guidelines before allowing them to draw indirect costs such as electricity and janitorial services from their food budget.
Obstacle #4: A surprising number of schools are not meeting/exceeding nutrition guidelines. Recommended Solution: Create a local, state, or federal incentive structure for schools to achieve existing nutrition guidelines.

In recent years, schools throughout the country have been introducing healthier options, including salad bars full of fresh, unprocessed food, like the one below. The new offerings are typically popular with students, and teachers often anecdotally report improvements in student behavior.


For additional information, check out the actual study:

Title: An empirical analysis of and policy recommendations to improve the nutritional quality of school meals.
Authors: Wagner, Barbara; Senauer, Benjamin; Runge, C. Ford.
Citation: Review of Agricultural Economics, v.29, no.4, Winter 2007, pp.672-688, 2007.