The Problem  With the passing of the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act in 2010, the taste of school lunches has gone from bad to worse. How do we solve this?

The Policy  “Improving child nutrition is the focal point of the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010.” This is the mission of the Obama Administration’s new nationwide school lunch policy and why they are being changed  The bill was introduced in the US Senate by Blanche Lincoln, Chairwoman of the Senate Agriculture Committee. It was later approved by the Senate by unanimous voice vote on August 5, 2010Blanche LincolnSenate Agriculture Committee

Benefits  Increased the number of eligible children for school meal programs by 115,000  Uses census data to determine student need in high-poverty areas, rather than relying on paper applications.  Authorizes USDA to provide meals in more after-school programs in "high-risk" areas  Increases access to drinking water in schools

Improved Quality  Requires school districts to be audited every 3 years to see if they have met nutrition standards  Requires easier access for students and parents about nutritional facts of meals  Improves recall procedures for school food  Provides training for school lunch providers

Nutrition  Gives USDA the authority to set new standards for food sold in lunches during the regular day, including vending machines.  Authorizes additional funds for the new standards for federal-subsidized school lunches.  Provides resources for schools and communities to utilize local farms and gardens to provide fresh produce.  Provides resources to increase nutritional quality of food provided by USDA  Sets minimal standards for school wellness policies

Taste  While the new school lunches are healthier, taste seems to have been forgotten  Even parents, who are all about their children being healthy, think these new lunches taste like “vomit”  “Even before the Healthy Hunger- Free Kids Act of 2010, school lunches tasted terrible to me and I watched in astonishment how much of that food, over which so much money was spent and labor expended, went straight into the garbage can untouched.”

So what is wrong?  Kids do not like the new meal plan  “Even before the Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010, school lunches tasted terrible to me and I watched in astonishment how much of that food, over which so much money was spent and labor expended, went straight into the garbage can untouched.”  Even with the cost reductions, students are leaving the meals untouched due to taste

Survey  To prove our observation that the taste quality of school lunches has indeed deteriorated, we conducted a short survey. We asked 15 people a series of questions which can be seen on the following slide, along with a open- ended question.

Survey and Results Taken on Sep 17, 2013  Gender?  7 male, 8 female  Grade?  2 freshman, 5 sophomore, 2 junior, 6 senior  Rate the selection of lunches from 1-10, 10 being highest  Average rating of 5.61  Rate the healthiness of lunches from 1-10, 10 being highest  Average rating of 6.24  Rate the overall taste of lunches from 1-10, 10 being highest  Average rating of 4.23

“What can we do to improve?”  This question was asked at the end of the survey, and came up with many different answers. Yet, they all had the same general idea. The idea was thrown out that there should be the option for higher quality meals in addition to the cheap meals. Another simply promoted a wider selection of meals. One more noticeable trend was the desire for better taste than price or healthiness.

Interviews  In addition, to further supplement our research, we conducted 2 interviews regarding this topic. We asked the same questions, except we replaced the 1-10 rating system with “describe how you feel about…”  This allowed us to get a more in-depth view of the opinions regarding school lunches

Interview 1 Conducted on Sep 17, 2013  Hunter Oxford, Senior, Male  “I feel as if there is simply no focus on the actual quality of food, and that all we care about is the price. We need more focus put on the actual taste of what we offer.”  “I think what we can do is simply invest in better quality food for non at-risk school areas. For students who have money to spend on good food should be able to receive good food.”

Interview 2 Conducted on Sep 17, 2013  Timmy Gardner, Freshman, Male  “The lunch here is a little better from middle school, but its still not very good. I’d much rather pack from home, since I love my mom’s PBJ sandwiches. It is good that its cheap and all, but it really doesn’t taste too good. Nor do I really think its that healthy.”  “I just think that overall as a country we don’t spend enough money making school lunches taste good or be healthy. We just need to invest more in it.”

The Solution?  Split the meal plan into two sectors  One line for the more tasteful, less nutritional and more expensive meals  One line for the less tasteful, but healthier and less costly meals  This gives room for choice among students, while still leaving economic options open for parents

Tier 1 Meals  Will run more expensive over all, as they will be of higher taste quality  Will have a much wider selection than Tier 2 meals  Will generally be less health- oriented than Tier 2 meals  This will appeal to middle- upper class students who have dispensable income

Tier 2 Meals  Will run less expensive over all, as taste quality will not be a primary focus  Will have less of a selection than Tier 1 meals  Will be more health-focused than Tier 1 meals  This will appeal to lower class students whose families do not have dispensable income

Sources  iew=article&id=1769catid=838 iew=article&id=1769catid=838  htm htm  hunger-free-kids-act hunger-free-kids-act  kids-act kids-act