School Food Policies and Practices in New York City Public Schools

Abstract

BackgroundThe Healthy, Hunger‐Free Kids (HHFK) Act was created to improve child nutrition in the school environment. Studies have shown challenges with implementation of the HHFK Act, but little is known about implementation in urban school districts.ObjectiveThe objectives of this study were to assess the school food policies and practices in a sample of New York City (NYC) public schools, to identify variation in implementation of the policies, and to determine barriers and consequences of implementing the policies.Design and SettingThis study consisted of direct observation of school meals, structured interviews, and document collection in eight public schools in NYC.ResultsFoods offered to students were consistent with the school district menus. Free water was made available via water fountains and water jets, but not all grade levels were permitted to use the water jets at some schools. The amount of time students have to eat lunch varied across schools, within schools, and by participation in the National School Lunch Program (NSLP). Healthy school meal practices often required increased time and staff inputs. Common challenges to school food policy implementation included lack of food storage space, limited staff, time constraints and utensil restrictions.ConclusionsThe nutrition standards required by the HHFK Act were implemented successfully in the sampled schools in this study, but unregulated aspects of the school meal environment (e.g., lunch line collection method, school staffing during meal periods, time available for lunch) influence the success of this policy. Interventions to counter mealtime constraints, improve lunch line efficiency, and promote unfamiliar healthful foods and beverages may better assist the HHFK Act and other school food and nutrition policies to achieve their goals of improving child nutrition in the school environment. Further research is needed to evaluate how challenges with HHFK Act implementation change over time.