School Food Program Research Articles

Eating to Learn, Learning to Eat: The Origins of School Lunch in the United States by A. R. Ruis

Reviewed by: Eating to Learn, Learning to Eat: The Origins of School Lunch in the United States by A. R. Ruis Amy L. Best Eating to Learn, Learning to Eat: The Origins of School Lunch in the United States. By A. R. Ruis. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 2017. ix + 201 pp. Cloth $95.00, paper $29.95. Eating to Learn, Learning to Eat: The Origins of School Lunch in the United States by A. R. Ruis is a carefully crafted account of some of our nation's earliest school food programs. The book is part of the important Rutgers University Press book series Critical Issues in Health and Medicine and is composed of six substantive chapters, an introduction, and an epilogue. Built upon extensive archival investigation, Eating to Learn, Learning to Eat offers much insight into how the National School Lunch Program took early shape at the turn of the twentieth century, a period of rapid urbanization, industrialization, and demographic change. Taken together, the chapters help us to understand the historical context and changing social tides that left a lasting imprint on a program that has been the subject of substantial debate for more than a century. Changing ideas about health, the ascendance of scientific expertise, growing recognition of poor nutritional health among children, increasing opposition to child labor, and the changing value of the child serve as a backdrop. Of particular relevance to understanding the early iterations of school food programs in the United States was the shifting understanding of school itself. Whether school was fundamentally an institution of the state or a community institution, [End Page 470] a social welfare institution committed to the betterment of children or exclusively an educational institution was a subject of widespread disagreement. This is a point Ruis revisits on several occasions, revealing tensions about the relationship of the state to individuals and the collective body informing public and policy discussion. Most early school lunch programs were organized by private charity. The view that a state-sponsored subsidized lunch program would cultivate national dependency, pauperization, and moral degeneracy was widely held by state and municipal government officials and middle-class charity organizations. Yet there was also considerable variation, with some city school boards adopting broad, school-based health initiatives. The majority of school boards relied on community partnerships with women's clubs, churches, and settlement houses to skirt rules against use of public money for school lunch. A few school boards sued states and municipalities to secure legal funds to cover the cost of school lunch. To understand these municipal differences and their sociopolitical contexts, Ruis spotlights two contrasting cases of school food programs. In Chicago, the subject of chapter 2, public obligation for children's nutritional health was taken as a given. But widespread indifference characterized New York City (chapter 3), whose school board saw feeding children as an activity belonging to the private realm of home. Both chapters offer rich detail of the complexity in administering school lunch programs and provide interesting contrast between the two cities in their willingness to address religious and ethnic differences among immigrant student populations. From the two cases, we also learn some things haven't changed all that much. Early school lunch programs had to compete against the pull of commercial food vendors. In the early 1900s, the concessionaires and street food tempted many children, much in the way McDonald's does today. Chapter 4 examines school lunch programs in rural schools, detailing an altogether different set of obstacles. Despite rural children's proximity to farm food, malnutrition was common. The high cost of rural education and few resources made the task of feeding rural children difficult. At the turn of the twentieth century most rural schools were single-room schools, with little more than a wood-burning stove to heat the room, let alone an appropriately equipped kitchen. Yet rural food programs, unlike their urban counterparts, did attempt more comprehensive nutritional programming. The final two substantive chapters offer a lead-up to the National School Lunch Program and the changing role of the federal government in the 1930s, a period marked by soaring relief registers, high demand for food aid, and the...

Challenges of inter-sector collaboration in public policies: the dilemma between nutritional supplementation and the promotion of healthy eating in schools

The study aimed to identify and analyze the development of inter-sector arrangements between the health and education sectors in the framework of the implementation of the NutriSUS strategy in a municipality (county) in the state of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The study was conducted from March 2015 to March 2017 and used policy analysis as the analytical reference, with the following analytical dimensions: operational design; ideas on the nutritional supplementation; institutional context; and inter-sector collaboration. Semi-structured interviews were held with health professionals and administrators and schoolteachers and school system administrators at the three levels of government, in addition to document analysis. The NutriSUS strategy was implemented in five preschool units and required establishing agreements between health professionals and teachers that were affected by the following: the design based on the preventive approach to diseases with emphasis on action by the health sector; mechanisms of induction and convergence of interests between the federal and local governments; management mechanisms and institutional spaces including different stages in the implementation process, that is, the NutriSUS management centered in the health sector but operationalized in the school system; and the intersection between NutriSUS and the National School Food Program which increased the visibility of competing concepts concerning supplementation as a preventive strategy and different approaches to promote healthy eating. Thus, the factors identified by the study challenge the development of inter-sector collaboration oriented by shared processes in the entire chain of implementation of inter-sector programs for schools.

A. R. Ruis, Eating to Learn, Learning to Eat: The Origins of School Lunch in the United States

Although often framed as ‘food fights’1 in today’s policy debates, school food disputes are not all that new, as Andrew Ruis reminds us in Eating to Learn, Learning to Eat: The Origins of School Lunch in the United States. In six concise chapters, Ruis examines the many school meal programmes in place across the country prior to the passage of the National School Lunch Program in 1946. Chronicling in rich detail the origins, composition and challenges these early school food programmes faced, Ruis offers a history that deepens our understanding of mid-century federal legislation and informs present day policy decisions. Eating to Learn, Learning to Eat examines tensions central to public health and social medicine—namely, promoting health within the divides between public oversight and private responsibilities. In this way, early school meal programmes suffered from Progressive Era concerns about dependency, compounded by the lack of clear data on child hunger and malnutrition or of programme costs and benefits. The case of school food was, and is, further complicated by its numerous stakeholders, including the federal government, the state, schools and parents, not to mention charitable organisations, advocacy groups, the food industry and farmers. Furthermore, school food’s difficulties lie within the complex nature of nutrition knowledge, which Ruis argues is a ‘fundamentally social process’, rooted in variable understandings of ‘which foods are healthful (or not), what constitutes a meal, how foods should be prepared and consumed, and even what counts as “food”’ (p. 6). Ruis argues these ‘are not empirical questions to be answered in labs or clinics but social questions continually addressed through the combination of scientific, cultural, and political—but also historical—processes’ (p. 6).

Reproducing or Reducing Inequity? Considerations for School Food Programs.

It is important to consider health inequities when exploring the extent to which school food programs may contribute to the stigmatization and social exclusion of families experiencing food insecurity. As part of a broader school-based project, this paper considers evidence derived from a secondary analysis of research in Nova Scotia (NS). In the original research, interviews were conducted with key stakeholders involved in supporting health promotion activities across NS elementary schools. For this article, data were re-examined using tenets of critical discourse analysis to evaluate if school practices were addressing the root social issues by identifying patterns in language and institutional norms. Our findings suggested that further illumination of programs may be needed to ensure that they do not contribute to the stigmatization and social exclusion of families experiencing food insecurity. Nutrition professionals are in a position to engage families experiencing food insecurity in policy action that will shift from a focus on individual determinants towards the social-structural conditions that underlie the complex issue of food insecurity.

Purchase of family farm and organic foods by the Brazilian School Food Program in Santa Catarina state, Brazil

ABSTRACT Objective To describe the purchase of family farm and organic foods by the Brazilian School Food Program in the municipalities of the state of Santa Catarina, Brazil. Methods This is an analytic and descriptive study conducted from 2010 to 2011. An electronic survey was sent to all 293 Santa Catarina municipalities. The Chi-square test investigated the association between the study variables. Results Between 2010 and 2011, the number of municipalities that purchased family farm foods increased by 36%, with a total of 96% of Santa Catarina municipalities buying family farming foods in 2011. Of the 96%, 70% complied with Article 14 of Law nº 11,947/2009, which determines that at least 30% of the funds provided by the National Fund for the Development of Education should be spent on family farm products, and 48% purchased organic foods. The South was the state region that most complied with Article 14 (85%; p=0.02). However, as municipality size increased, compliance with Article 14 decreased (p=0.04). The municipalities that had the most difficulties buying family farm and organic foods were those with the lowest Municipal Human Development Index and number of students. Conclusion Most Santa Catarina municipalities purchased family farm foods in 2011, and most municipalities that complied with Article 14 of Law nº 11,947/2009 were in the South state region. Finally, municipalities with low Municipal Human Development Index and number of students had the most difficulties buying family farm foods.

Start with a Seedling: Uncovering the Kindergarten Language and Literacy Curriculum One Leaf at a Time

While recent research has documented a myriad of benefits to school gardening and food programs, many educators and administrators voice concerns that such programs detract from the provincially mandated curriculum and few researchers have investigated how school gardening and food programs may support language and literacy curriculum expectations. Using a content analysis of transcripts of audio data from a school gardening and food program that matched 24 kindergarten children with 17 adult and young adult volunteers, this study illustrates how such a program may help support mandated language and literacy curriculum. Analysis suggests the children involved in the program practiced important oral language skills, such as asking questions and expressing experiences with their garden buddies at a high frequency.

Políticas de seguridad alimentaria y agricultura familiar en Brasil: actores, ideas e instituciones

Este artículo analiza la formulación de dos políticas de seguridad alimentaria en Brasil – el Programa de Adquisición de Alimentos (PAA) y el Programa Nacional de Alimentación Escolar (PNAE) - haciendo hincapié el papel de las ideas, los intereses y las instituciones. El establecimiento del PAA remonta 2003, un período caracterizado por la formulacion de la política de Fome Zero (Hambre Cero), una acción pública que fue el abanderado de la política contra la pobreza del primer gobierno de Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. Este programa tiene como objetivo promover la seguridad alimentaria por medio de la oferta de alimentos de la agricultura familiar. Las ideas, actores y instituciones que les han dado forma a el PAA fueron también la base para la reformulación de la NEAP. En este sentido, este artículo proporciona no sólo un análisis de dos políticas que son el objeto de la transferencia a otros países (América Latina y África), sino también un "retrato" - limitado, pero informativo – de un período de historia política de Brasil

Do School Food Programs Improve Child Dietary Quality?

This paper estimates the impact of U.S. school food programs on the distribution of child dietary quality during 2005−10. The distributional approach allows one to better understand how school food impacts children prone to low‐quality diets separately from those prone to higher‐quality diets. Using a fixed‐effects quantile estimator, I find notable heterogeneity in the general population—school food has positive impacts below the median of the dietary‐quality distribution, and negative but insignificant impacts at upper quantiles. Children demonstrating substantial nutritional needs (i.e., food insecure or receiving free/reduced price meals) exhibit positive impacts at all levels of diet quality with especially high benefits at low quantiles. Although school food programs may not benefit the “above‐average” child, they do improve the diets of the most nutritionally disadvantaged.

Healthy eating at school: consensus among experts

ABSTRACT Objective: To identify attributes that promote healthy eating in order to support a study for the Quality Index for School Meal Menus content validity. Methods: This study used the Delphi technique to consult school nutrition experts in Brazil. These experts were selected among the authors of articles published between 2010 and 2015 that were identified by searching the Web of Science database, using the keywords 'school feeding', 'school nutrition program', and 'school food program', as well as the authors of official documents on this topic. The Likert method was used to record respondent perceptions in two analytical dimensions: foods that are part of a healthy menu for school feeding, and composition of an indicator of nutritional quality for school feeding menus. Results: Most respondents (n=27) were affiliated with public institutions (92.59%) and had over six years of experience in the area (70.36%). Assertions resulted in consensus according to the analysis criteria. A consensus was established for fresh food, fruits and vegetables, dairy products, beans, meat and eggs, and a schedule compatible with the meal as promoters of healthy eating, and processed foods, sweets, and fat excess as risk attributes. Conclusion: Since a consensus was not reached in the first round, there is a need to broaden the debate on issues related to foods rich in sugar, replacement of meals by sweets, and foods rich in fat.

National policy and state dynamics: A state-level analysis of the factors influencing the prevalence of farm to school programs in the United States

Skyrocketing childhood obesity rates have fueled rising concern about the health of school-aged children around the world. Efforts to reduce childhood obesity have increasingly targeted improvements to school meal programs. In particular, in the United States, the landmark 2010 Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act (HHFKA) marked the first substantial changes to federal school food policy in recent years to enhance the quality of school meals. Despite these federal policy changes including mandated nutritional improvements and increased federal funding for farm to school programs that can help schools meet the new nutritional standards, there is still significant variation in the prevalence of farm to school programs across the United States. Theories of the policy process suggest that federal policies can vary by state in their implementation and impact, with state-level factors influencing this variation. This paper quantitatively explores the effect of both federal legislation through vertical diffusion and state-level internal determinants on farm to school rates across the country. My findings reveal that state affluence and the average farm to school rate of a state’s regional peers emerge as the most significant, positive predictors of state-level farm to school rates. This research sheds light on the current nature of school food programs in the United States that provide critical nutrition to millions of school children each day, and suggests a need for additional research exploring the linkages between federal policy, state-level factors, and local implementation of school food programs.

Política de alimentação escolar brasileira: Representações sociais e marcas do passado

O Programa Nacional de Alimentação Escolar (PNAE) é uma política pública brasileira regulamentada pelo Ministério da Educação e direcionada ao ambiente escolar, de caráter universal, que tem como foco principal a suplementação alimentar e a promoção de uma educação nutricional voltada para as instituições escolares públicas. Entretanto, adesão por parte dos alunos é baixa. A alimentação escolar brasileira é historicamente conhecida como “merenda escolar”, denominação que adquiriu no contexto da sua criação, em 1955, e que perdura até os dias de hoje no cotidiano escolar. Este texto pretende demonstrar que o passado fortemente assistencialista que envolveu a criação da política de alimentação escolar no Brasil deixou marcas duradoras na representação social desta refeição, impedindo, como consequência, a sua universalização. A partir desta premissa, foram desenvolvidos dois processos metodológicos simultâneos: por um lado, foi realizada uma pesquisa qualitativa com alunos, gestores e merendeiras, para captar as representações sociais dos envolvidos. Por outro, foram revisitados documentos históricos da política, visando perceber algumas das raízes das representações sociais presenciadas na atualidade(Moscovici, 2011). Verificou-se que, apesar das melhorias na qualidade nutricional e no processo da oferta desta refeição no ambiente escolar, há ainda dissonância entre as teorias regulamentadoras e as práticas cotidianas vivenciadas nas escolas, agravadas por uma operacionalização inadequada da merenda. Constatou-se, ainda, que a maior adesão está associada ao aluno mais carente do ponto de vista socioeconômico, o que demonstra que ainda não foi possível superar a representação social da política como assistencialista.

Sustainability of an innovative school food program: a case study in the northeast of Brazil

The Brazilian School Food Program (PNAE) is intersectoral innature. It encourages social participation and local economies and is considered here as a health promotionpractice. In the Northeastern State of Pernambuco, the city of Tabira acquired international renownin 2012 for the management of its school food program (PAE). This study analyzed the positive and negative factors related to the sustainability of the innovations in Tabira to understand the processes related to the continuity of the innovative actions implemented. The research used a qualitative approach with a case study strategy. A focus group, semi-structured interviews with key actors and document analysis were performed. The data were processed using content analysis and the techniques of thematic analysis. Positive organizational and socio-political factors were: the program institutionalization, the efficient use of financial resources, municipalized management, high community participation and the use of local resources. Negative factors were: weak inter-sectoral coordination and training and poor professional qualification. The strong political engagement at the local level showed both positive and negative impacts on sustainability.

ANÁLISE DE FORNECIMENTO DE PRODUTOS DA AGRICULTURA FAMILIAR PARA O PROGRAMA NACIONAL DE ALIMENTAÇÃO ESCOLAR (PNAE) NO MUNICÍPIO DE SÃO GABRIEL-RS

Through the National School Food Program (PNAE) and the Food Acquisition Program (PAA) the State seeks to deploy a Public Policy in order to promote family farming providing distribution opportunities for farmers meeting the food needs of public school students. The work aims to analyze the supply of products from family farms in San Gabriel / RS for the PNAE and verify the effectiveness of this policy at the municipal level. The research was exploratory and had a qualitative approach, development of theoretical framework, site visits and construction and application of semistructured interviews with public officials and family farmers. The results revealed that the supply process includes few farmers and does not reach the goal set forth by law.

The School Food Environment and Obesity Prevention: Progress Over the Last Decade.

The school food environment-including when and where children obtain food and the types of options available during the school day-plays an important role in children's consumption patterns. Thus, childhood obesity prevention efforts often focus on altering the school food environment as a mechanism for improving student dietary intake. This review examines the role school food programs and policies play in improving children's diet, weight, and health. Overall, research suggests that significant improvements have been made in school nutrition policies and programs. Due to the recent program changes made as a result of the 2010 Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act, an emphasis was placed on research conducted over the past decade and especially on the evaluation of foods and beverages served and sold since implementation of this national law. This review also examines remaining gaps in the literature and opportunities for further improvements in school food programs and policies.

Food environments in schools and in the immediate vicinity are associated with unhealthy food consumption among Brazilian adolescents

BackgroundEvidence of the influence of the school food environment on adolescent diet is still little explored in low- and middle-income countries. We aimed to evaluate the association between food environment in schools and the immediate vicinity and the regular consumption of unhealthy food among adolescents. MethodsWe used cross-sectional data collected by the Brazilian National Survey of School Health (PeNSE) from a representative sample of adolescents attending 9th grade public and private schools in Brazil, in 2012. We estimated students' regular consumption (>5days/week) of unhealthy food (soft drinks, bagged salty snacks, deep fried salty snacks and sweets) and school availability, in the cafeteria or an alternative outlet, of the same food plus some healthy options (fruit and natural fruit juice). We performed multilevel logistic regression models. ResultsHaving a cafeteria inside school selling soft drinks (private schools OR=1.23; 95% CI=1.14–1.33; public schools OR=1.13; 95% CI=1.06–1.20) and deep fried salty snacks (private schools OR=1.41 95% CI=1.26–1.57; public schools OR=1.16 95% CI=1.08–1.24) was associated with a higher consumption of these unhealthy foods of among students. In private schools, cafeteria selling fruit and natural fruit juice was associated with lower student consumption of bagged salty snacks (OR=0.86; 95% CI 0.77–0.96) and soft drinks (OR=0.85; 95% CI=0.76–0.94). In addition, eating meals from the Brazilian School Food Program in public schools was associated with a lower consumption of unhealthy foods. ConclusionsFoods available in the school food environment are associated with the consumption of unhealthy food among adolescents in Brazil.

Sixty years of the National Food Program in Brazil

School meals were introduced in the Brazilian political agenda by a group of scholars known as nutrition scientists' in the 1940s. In 1955, the Campanha de Merenda Escolar, the first official school food program, was stablished, and sixty years after its inception, school food in Brazil stands as a decentralised public policy, providing services to students enrolled in public schools, which involve the Brazilian federal government, twentyseven federative units, and their 5,570 municipalities. Throughout its history, school food has gone through many stages that reflect the social transformations in Brazil: from a campaign to implement school food focused on the problem of malnutrition and the ways to solve it, to the creation of a universal public policy relying on social participation and interface between other modern, democratic, and sustainable policies, establishing a strategy for promoting food and nutrition security, development, and social protection. In this article, the School Food Program is analyzed from the perspective of four basic structures that support it as public policy: the formal structure, consisting of legal milestones that regulated the program; substantive structure, referring to the public and private social actors involved; material structure, regarding the way in which Brazil sponsors the program; and finally, the symbolic structure, consisting of knowledge, values, interests, and rules that legitimatize the policy.

"Can't We Just Have Some Sazón?" Student, Family, and Staff Perspectives on a New School Food Program at a Boston High School.

In September 2013, a Massachusetts high school launched a nutrition program in line with 2013 United States Department of Agriculture requirements. We sought to understand attitudes of stakeholders toward the new program. We employed community-based participatory research methods in a qualitative evaluation of the food program at the school, where 98% of students are students of color and 86% qualify for free/reduced lunch. We conducted 4 student (N = 32), 2 parent (N = 10), 1 faculty/staff focus group (N = 14), and interviews with school leadership (N = 3). A total of 10 themes emerged from focus groups and interviews, in 3 categories--impressions of the food (insufficient portion size, dislike of the taste, appreciation of the freshness, increased unhealthy food consumption outside school), impact on learning (learning what's healthy, the program's innovativeness, control versus choice), and concerns about stakeholder engagement (lack of student/family engagement, culturally incompatible foods). A representative comment was: "You need something to hold them from 9 to 5, because if they are hungry, McDonald's is right there." Stakeholders appreciated the educational value of the program but stakeholder dissatisfaction may jeopardize its success. Action steps could include incorporating culturally appropriate recipes in the school's menus and working with local restaurants to promote healthier offerings.

Examining participation in relation to students’ development of health-related action competence in a school food setting

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine how students’ participation in an integrated school food program was related to the development of components of food and health-related action competence (F & HRAC). These components were understood to be the knowledge, insight, motivation, ownership and social skills that made students able to take action regarding food and health in everyday life. Design/methodology/approach – Research was undertaken as a single case study of the development of an integrated education and health program called LOMA-Local Food (LOMA) in a secondary school in Denmark. Qualitative methods were applied, including an action research component, where researcher and teachers examined how students developed action competence. The program was based on a whole school approach with the aim of improving F & HRAC. As a way to obtain this, students participated in planning, preparing, cooking and serving their own school food as integrated in curriculum. The study applied the Health Promoting Schools’ (HPS) conceptual framework and the I nvestigation, V ision, A ction and C hange (IVACE) approach. Findings – Students who participated in LOMA educational activities became motivated for developing a food F & HRAC, which included components such as knowledge, insight, motivation, ownership, action experience, commitment, cooperation and critical thinking. Students developed practical skills related to food and health, when they were cooking healthy school food together with professionals and peers. The study also points to the importance of capacity building among teachers. The IVACE matrix is suggested as a relevant tool for monitoring forms of participation that contributes to students’ development of F & HRAC. Practical implications – There were indications of how participation in LOMA contributed to students’ development of F & HRAC. The practical implication of this is that “setting” is very important for the success of food and health education initiatives. In this integrated approach the production kitchen and the dining hall are indispensable. Also the new organization of the school day and the introduction of a shared daily meal are important practical components for the improvement of the learning environment. The possibility of combining theory and practice seem conducive for students’ achievement of action competence. Social implications – The current study is an example of how the IVACE matrix can be applied in order to plan, conduct and evaluate LOMA educational activities, which could be considered as a contribution to the HPS scientific community. It would be useful for other schools that intend to apply the LOMA approach. However, more research is needed, where teachers, students, staff and other stakeholders collaborate in an action research process. This could promote students’ health and support other initiatives regarding public health, sustainable development and democracy. Originality/value – This research may have implications for the way that school food programs are developed and implemented if they are to make a contribution to students’ development of F & HRAC. Taking the political interest for research-based interventions into account, it is important that future strategies include teachers’ capacity building. Research is also needed regarding further development and test of the IVACE matrix as a method in participatory, health education approaches. This should be seen in combination with a renewed focus on integrated curricula models related to the on-going discussion on redesign of western school curricula.

Lessons Learned From a Partnership to Evaluate a School Food Program.

In 2013, leadership at a Boston school approached academic investigators for help with assessing their new school food program. The community-academic partnership implemented a two-phase community-based participatory research (CBPR) assessment. The qualitative phase involved key stakeholder focus groups. The quantitative assessment involved height/weight measurement and dietary recalls at the beginning and end of the year. The qualitative assessment revealed low stakeholder engagement in the food program and resulted in substantive changes. In the quantitative phase, the partnership terminated the study after recruitment goals were not met. The quantitative assessment faced administrative hurdles to conducting school-based research and obtaining institutional review board (IRB) approval of CBPR projects, low recruitment, and diminished partnership strength. The constant effort to sustain partnerships, IRB processes mal adapted for CBPR, and training needs for community investigators are challenges and opportunities for success. CBPR can be useful for school-based research, but key process changes could increase its effectiveness.

Research trends in public policy: an assessmentof the National School Food Program (PNAE)

The scope of the article is to evaluate the research trends of the Brazilian School Food Program (PNAE), by analyzing the papers published in journals on the Brazilian Federal Agency for Support and Evaluation of Graduate Education (CAPES) website in the period from 2008 to 2013. It involved bibliographical research by means of qualitative analysis to detect the most relevant issues addressed and discussed by the program. Ten scientific articles related to the area were selected after reading the abstracts and research topics of the articles and by a search for the following key words: public policy, family farming, school food. Studies related to the PNAE and its impacts were also considered, due to the connection with the activities carried out in Brazilian public policy. The paper presents the issues analyzed and discussed most on the subject during the period under consideration. The conclusion reached is that the main research trends are characterized by the study of strategies for food and nutrition safety, analyzing the composition and acceptance of foods offered to students by an analysis of production, better living conditions and local development of rural producers.