Abstract
USDA Nutrient Standard Menu Planning option, one of two National School Lunch Program options for school meal planning, has no requirements for fruit/vegetable servings and enables foodservice to serve nutrient-poor foods while remaining compliant with nutrition requirements. The objective of this research was to compare student reported preferences, meals offered, and meals selected over nine days. A preference survey was administered to 151 ninth grade students attending a low-income northern California high school. School lunch observations were conducted daily for an average of 418 to 584 students by trained researchers. Observation data demonstrated that 66% of students chose no servings of fruit or vegetables over the nine day period. In addition, 37% consistently selected the same one or two meals out of the 32 meals offered daily over a five day period. There was a discrepancy between reported meal preferences and observed meal selections. While 10% selected pizza as their most preferred entrée, pizza comprised almost 30% of all daily entrée sales. This discrepancy is possibly due to the increased availability of pizza and/or limited availability of the more preferred entrees that either contain or are served with a fruit/vegetable. Findings indicate that a significant proportion of students may complete high school without ever selecting a serving of fruit or vegetables. A considerable gap between available food items and student preferences resulted in nutrient-poor food selection practices among 9th graders.
Highlights
Adolescents have been reported to consume 47% of their total daily calories during the school day in the form of breakfast, lunch and snacks (Condon, 2009)
This study examined the impact of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Nutrient Standard Menu Planning on actual meals offered and meals selected among low-income high school students in northern California
Results from the School Nutrition Dietary Assessment (SNDA) III indicate that 55% of high school National School Lunch Program (NSLP) students self-reported consumption of fruit, juice, and/or vegetables during the prior school day (Condon, 2009)
Summary
Adolescents have been reported to consume 47% of their total daily calories during the school day in the form of breakfast, lunch and snacks (Condon, 2009). USDA Nutrient Standard Menu Planning (NSMP), one of the National School Lunch Program options, has no requirements for fruit/vegetable servings and enables foodservice to serve nutrient-poor foods while remaining compliant with nutrition requirements. The National School Lunch Program (NSLP) was created to provide nutritionally balanced lunches at a reduced rate or for free to qualifying families. Participating schools must provide lunches that meet the 1995 Dietary Guidelines for Americans These guidelines recommend that no more than 30% of calories come from fat and less than 10% from saturated fat. The meals must provide at least one-third of the 1989 Recommended Dietary Allowances for calories, protein, vitamin A, vitamin C, iron and calcium (USDA, 2009).
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