Do We Need More School Lunch Regulations?

The first part of this post spoke words to me: my daughter recently had her first school breakfast and I wasn't happy with what the parents thought was breakfast. The had a small Halloween themed breakfast at her preschool (a Church with no school lunch program) and do you want to know what they brought?

Orange colored cream cheese and bagels.

Mummy sausages.

Donut holes.

Danish.

Mummy lollipops.

Cupcakes.

Breakfast? Really? I brought a Halloween themed fruit salad: oranges, black (dark purple) grapes, and green apples.

Couldn't we have done any better? I see it this way: if parents can't even get it right, how can schools? I'm not sure I could trust having less regulations...but we can't trust more of them either! Starting from scratch might be a really great option.

I was starting to be willing to side with the less-regulation idea as a panacea for school food, or a solution.

Then this came across my Twitter feed: <a href=http://www.cdc.gov/listeria/outbreaks/cantaloupes-...">Multistate Outbreak of Listeriosis traced to Cantaloupes from Jensen Farms</a>

Yikes!

How do you strike a balance between nutritious, sane and affordable for schools, and then also safe to minimize things like this happening...?

If anything, Lunch Wars made me realize how much I don't know...

This ­book reaffirmed my suspicions that we perhaps already have too many regulations in place and would be hard-pressed to meet these guidelines at home, even with the healthiest meals composed of organic ingredients. We should instead focus our time and energy on our children consuming whole foods.

I think we need fewer regulations. Or, at the very least, make the locus of control be at the state level - or even the local level.

I think that while it's important to have kids to have healthy food at school, it's more important that we feed them well at home. I know not everyone is in my situation (I'm a SAHM), but my kids eat way more meals in our home than they would at school. I'm not disillusioned to think that they won't make unhealthy choices sometimes, but if they eat healthily the majority of times, they'll have a well-balanced diet.

So we have been taught the food pyramid forever, yet our kids lunches don't follow those recommendations. Maybe if the regulations actually followed what we have been taught, they would be simple to follow.

I don't think regulations are the answer. Actually, as I read the book, I thought more and more how often kids are eating better at school than they are at home. I have no problem with sugary treats (I bake with real sugar, real butter and real cream!) and I have no problem with the occasional trip to McDonald's. But a lot of people I know really prefer the convenience foods and even my mom told me recently about the nutritional benefits of Banquet meals.

I don't think regulations is the answer. But I don't really know how to help with awareness and helping people get more excited about a tomato grown in their own garden than ketchup at McDonald's.

Today my daughter had to buy luch for the first time EVER. I was pleasantly suprised with her options, and her own choices! I think things are improving and constant viligance is best!

Definitely start over. Its obviously not helping anyone the way that they are, and if there are standards, what are they good for if still producing horrible lunches? I have the same problem with curriculum standards. If teachers can still get by without truly ensuring the kids understand material, the standards need to be changed... and enforced. The food standards are such that food service directors have to include starchy foods because they are told to, not because it makes the meal healthy or well-balanced...etc. Just start over. Then make sure that the short set of guidelines that work are followed.

I'm with the "scrap and start over" group. I think so many regulations have been made along the way that are contradictory and have been proven ineffective and unhealthy, it would be best to start with a clean slate. That said...over-regulating with the "new" will likely find us in 25 years in the same mess we are now.

i'd say start over--- out with the old and in with the new!

I think the rules need to be scrapped. I think starting again - a complete overhaul of the archaic regulations - is what is best. Gluck is a great model to follow. I think the more parents become educated on this issue the more progress we will see. So many people are careful about what they feed their kids at home but not at school. Like out of sight out of mind. This needs to change first.

More rules? Nah.... we need more creativity. We need more local control and, if there's no local interest in improvement then "better" rules are needed. Amy Kalafa for Secy' of HHS!

a/b

Schools definitely don't need more rules to follow - but they do need encouragement to meet healthy standards. Reward schools with additional funding if they serve healthier meals. Pony up some cash if they take out the pop machines. It's hard enough for school districts to meet educational standards on budgets that are rapidly being reduced by governmental and state entities - adding additional food regulations could push some school districts to closure.

I agree with most of what's already been said--I do think that we need rules about school lunches, but maybe not MORE rules. Just different ones.

It's tricky. I don't think RULES are the problem, just the ones we have. The only way to ensure healthy lunches are served is regulation.

I think it's a slow, yet much needed, process. But I see how overhauling the entire system could cause major backlash and even end up losing money. It's a tough decision, but the sooner changes are implemented the better the food and budget become over the long haul.

I hate to say this, but I think that DE-regulating the school lunch program may be a better answer. Instead of forcing regulations about what is served and not served--instead offer encouragement to schools who meet higher overall healthy school goals. Kids get more exercise-more money for school lunches. School lunches made locally? More money for the school. School bans candy/cake/junk food party rewards--more money for classrooms.

I don't know - it's complicated. I love some of the positive stories in the Lunch Wars book - there is one about a chef cooking from scratch each day and how cafeteria sales went through the roof because it tasted so good, and it was all from local produce suppliers and such! Yet, he was always in trouble with the program... If we could trust the powers that be to make decisions in favor of our kids, then I would say less regulations, but I'm not sure I have that trust yet.

I believe we do need to have regulations...just not the ones we have now. I'm not sure if it would be easier to toss the ones we have and start over or amend the ones we have. If it's not working (and it's obviously not in my opinion) they need to change. Fresh, cooked from scratch and balanced would be ideal. We need to look at what the children of today need to be healthy!

I don't think we need more rules. The school systems have to answer to the parents when it comes to school lunches. I'd rather have local parents keep the school lunch program in check than the government.

What's needed are regulations that encourage the serving of fresh - not processed - food and the fact that schools use outsourcing food as a profit center. Changing the regulations to reward non-processed foods (though the big food companies will protest) and making that more profitable for the school is 1 way change could possibly happen. But for that, DC has to value the kids over PAC money, and that sadly seems highly unlikely.

I agree that there needs to be more funding to create a truly healthy food system! Although that is probably a shot in the dark, I think it is definitely something to look into. I think starting over with a bigger budget is the ideal situation but almost seems improbable.

I just prefer to feed my kids myself and bypass the school system altogether...

I agree with DInRuns. increased funding would definitely be the way to go. Sadly in this economy I don't think it is going to happen and thus I will continue to pack my kids lunches.

I think some combination of more regulations and increased funding would help. It does seem that the regulations are overkill (like how difficult it can be to get fresh foods, as opposed to processed foods) but I would worry that less regulation could equal worse food.

Either way, any discussion would have to focus on increasing the amount school districts have to spend on each meal, because healthy lunches for $1 per meal seems nearly impossible.

Ach! This is a tough one. I feel like in some ways we need more, some ways less. I think there needs to be more freedom and autonomy at the local level, but I think it's important to regulate on a national level for some things. Like: some areas might have an easier time working with local farmers; they should have that freedom and not be bound by national regulations. But all schools should be required to keep nutritious food in the lunch line. I remember reading that Kalafa tried to make a lunch that fit the guidelines and found that she had a very healthy meal with no added sugars or processed foods, but was missing something key. It's a really tough job, and I think the most basic things should be nationally regulated, but the minor details left up to the districts and schools at a local level.

I don't think more rules is this answer. The system is already so complicated already! The answer really just seems to be more money. But from where?