The Efficacy and Cost-Effectiveness of Replacing Whole Apples with Sliced in the National School Lunch Program

The National School Lunch Program (NSLP) serves 29.6 million lunches each day. Schools must offer ½ a cup of fruit for each lunch tray. Much of this fruit may be wasted, leaving the schools in a dilemma. The objectives of this study were to evaluate the consumption of whole vs. sliced apples and determine the cost-effectiveness of the intervention. Researchers weighed apple waste at baseline and three post-intervention time points in one rural Midwest school. The costs of the intervention were collected from the school. The cost-effectiveness analysis estimates how often apples need to be served to offset the costs of the slicing intervention. A total of (n = 313) elementary student students participated. Students consumed significantly more sliced as compared to whole apples in intervention months 3 (β = 21.5, p < 0.001) and 4 (β = 27.7, p < 0.001). The intervention cost was USD 299. The value of wasted apple decreased from USD 0.26 at baseline to USD 0.23 wasted at post-intervention. The school would need to serve 9403 apples during the school year (54 times) to cover the expenses of the intervention. In conclusion, serving sliced apples may be a cost-effective way to improve fruit consumption during school lunch.

Energy and Nutritional Composition of School Lunches in Slovenia: The Results of a Chemical Analysis in the Framework of the National School Meals Survey

Background: Slovenia similar to some European countries has a long tradition of the organized system of school meals. The present survey aimed to compare school lunch composition in Slovene primary schools (n = 40) with the national dietary guidelines; Methods: The survey took place from January to September 2020. Sampling of a 5-day school lunch (n = 200) for adolescents aged 10 to 13 years, were performed in schools. Chemical analysis was provided by an accredited national laboratory. Results: The median energy value of school lunches was 2059 kJ (24% of the recommended daily energy intake). The school lunches contained 24.8 g of proteins, 52.9 g of carbohydrates and 16.7 g of dietary fats. Saturated fatty acids represent 4.7 g, polyunsaturated fatty acids 4.7 g, monounsaturated fatty acids 5.8 g, and industrial trans fats 0.2 g/100 g of a meal (1.2 g/meal). Dietary fibre represented 7.8 g, free sugars for 14.7 g and salt for 3.9 g; Conclusions: The survey showed lower values for energy, carbohydrates and total fats in school lunches as recommended, and exceeded values of salt, saturated and polyunsaturated fatty acids.

Purchasing Behavior, Setting, Pricing, Family: Determinants of School Lunch Participation

Despite growing school lunch availability in Germany, its utilization is still low, and students resort to unhealthy alternatives. We investigated predictors of school lunch participation and reasons for nonparticipation in 1215 schoolchildren. Children reported meal habits, parents provided family-related information (like socioeconomic status), and anthropometry was conducted on-site in schools. Associations between school lunch participation and family-related predictors were estimated using logistic regression controlling for age and gender if necessary. School was added as a random effect. School lunch participation was primarily associated with family factors. While having breakfast on schooldays was positively associated with school lunch participation (ORadj = 2.20, p = 0.002), lower secondary schools (ORadj = 0.52, p < 0.001) and low SES (ORadj = 0.25, p < 0.001) were negatively associated. The main reasons for nonparticipation were school- and lunch-related factors (taste, time constraints, pricing). Parents reported pricing as crucial a reason as an unpleasant taste for nonparticipation. Nonparticipants bought sandwiches and energy drinks significantly more often on school days, whereas participants were less often affected by overweight (OR = 0.66, p = 0.043). Our data stress school- and lunch-related factors as an important opportunity to foster school lunch utilization.

Design of a distribution network for the school lunch program

The national school lunch program (NSLP) is crucial for providing healthy, inexpensive, or free lunches to children, thus benefiting society. Designing a distribution network for the program requires solving a location and routing problem. In this paper, first, we formulate a multi-objective non-linear integer programming formulation of the problem. Next, we develop a two-step approach since the problem is Np-hard. The first stage presents a K-mean clustering method that deals with routing decisions by determining the locations of food processing centers and allocating schools to these centers. The second stage offers a multi-objective mixed-integer linear mathematical model for finding the locations of distribution centers. Besides economic and environmental factors, we optimize travel time in the network as perishable items are involved. A weighted sum approach is presented for different weights of objectives. We provide a real case study in Turkey to demonstrate the applicability of the two-stage approach proposed in this study. The numerical results provide valuable information for decision-makers and authorities to prioritize and prepare action plans.

Authorship Correction: The Good Food for Learning Universal Curriculum-Integrated Healthy School Lunch Intervention: Protocol for a Two-Year Matched Control Pre-Post and Case Study (Preprint)

BACKGROUND Good nutrition affects children’s health, well-being, and learning, and schools offer an important setting to promote healthy behaviors that can last a lifetime. Once children reach school age, they spend more of their waking hours in school than in any other environment. Children’s eating habits may be easier to influence than those of adults. In Canada, households with children are more likely to experience food insecurity, and school food programs that are universally available to all children can support the development of healthy eating patterns across groups of varying socioeconomic status. There is a significant gap in the rigorous community-engaged academic research on the impact of school meal programs, especially universal ones. OBJECTIVE The aim of this population health intervention research is to study the impact of a 2-year universal, curriculum-integrated healthy school lunch program in elementary schools in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada, on food consumption, dietary quality and food and nutrition-related knowledge, attitudes, and practices. METHODS This population health intervention study will be conducted in 2 intervention elementary schools matched with 2 control schools. We will collect preintervention data, including objective measurements of food eaten at school and food-related knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors. This will be followed by the intervention itself, along with qualitative case studies of the intervention process in the 2 intervention schools. Then, we will collect postintervention data similar to the preintervention data. Finally, we will finish the data analysis and complete the ongoing sharing of learning from the project. RESULTS This study was funded in April 2020 but because of the COVID-19 pandemic, data collection did not begin until May 2021. The intervention will begin in September 2021 and end in June 2023, with end point data collection occurring in May and June 2023. The case study research will begin in September 2021 and will be ongoing for the duration of the intervention. CONCLUSIONS The opportunity we have to systematically and comprehensively study a curriculum-integrated school lunch program, as well as the promising practices for school food programs across Canada, is without precedent.

Availability and Nutritional Adequacy of Plant-Based Items in Public High School Lunch Menus

Despite a growing body of research that indicates the health benefits of eating less meat and more plant-based foods, there is limited research on the actual availability of these plant-based options in high schools regulated by the National School Lunch Program (NSLP). This study aims to explore the availability of plant-based food items in public Cincinnati high schools enrolled in the NSLP and to determine whether the nutritional profiles of available plant-based options meet the caloric needs of high school students seeking a plant-based diet. The plant-based diet index (PDI) was used to provide a metric for whether a food item is absent of any animal products and can be further divided into healthy (hPDI) and unhealthy (uPDI) options. 361 lunch options from 8 Cincinnati public high schools were categorized into four food groups: Entrees, Sides, Vegetables and Fruits. It was found that there is a considerable scarcity of plant-based entree items, which account for only 1.3% of all entrees. Consequently, students following a plant-based diet would be unable to meet their caloric requirements at 75% of the studied schools (174 of ~800 recommended calories), and students following a healthful plant-based diet could not meet their caloric needs at any of the studied schools (131 of ~800 recommended calories). This may leave students who are reliant on the NSLP unable to obtain the health benefits of a plant-based diet, which would have disproportionate consequences for poorer students.