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Page: << Prev | 1 | 2 | 3 | Next >> The lunch program began in 1946 to help ensure that U.S. children were receiving enough nutritious food. The breakfast program was institutionalized in 1975. Both offer free or low-cost meals to eligible students.
"It's very clear that USDA needs to update the standards of schools" related to nutrition, Gordon said. "They know what they're aiming for, but … having standards is not enough."
"We need to explore other ways of making change, which could include items such as providing more training and technical assistance to schools, providing more funding for nutrition education," she said. "It also may be worth considering more laws or regulations to limit the availability of certain types of food, such as whole or 2 percent milk."
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Mary Ford, a registered dietitian and professor in the School of Public Health at the University of Minnesota, and author of the journal editorial, urged such action.
"Schools need to do even more to reduce the availability of high-calorie, low-nutrient foods and make school meals more nutritious," she wrote. Foods available by choice to students -- in vending machines, á la carte and the like -- "should include only fruits, vegetables, whole grains and non-fat and low-fat dairy products," she wrote.
The editorial also suggested that the federal government withhold funding for meal programs from school systems that don't comply with stepped-up nutrition expectations.
Sam Kass, the chef who followed the Obamas to the White House, also has put the school lunch program under fire. According to a report in The New York Times in January, Cass attributes the nutritional shortcomings in school lunches, at least in part, to the use of donated surplus agricultural commodities that result from government subsidies.
"As a result, he says, meals served to students are low in vegetables and disproportionately high in fat, additives, preservatives and high-fructose corn syrup," the Times report said.
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