Menu Challenges
Children’s tastes, districts’ finances make federal goals harder to meet
03:06 PM PST on Sunday, January 14, 2007

By SHIRIN PARSAVAND
The Press-Enterprise

Schools have overhauled menus in the decade since new federal rules aimed at trimming fat from school lunches were enacted, but many students aren’t eating any healthier on campus.

Dustin Cassady, a seventh-grader at Corona’s Citrus Hills Intermediate School, eats a bean and cheese burrito from Miguel’s Jr. at his school. He rounds the meal out with Cheetos Flamin’ Hot Crunchy Snacks, washing it all down with blue Powerade.

They skip the fruits and vegetables on the lunch line in favor of items such as potato chips and gelatin desserts. Or they eat meals that comply with the law but are heavy on starch and lack whole grains, fruits and vegetables.

One recent day at Davidson Elementary School in San Bernardino, children picked up trays with pepperoni calzones, then chose their side dishes. Some took apples, green beans and iceberg lettuce mixed with shredded cabbage and carrots. Others ignored them.

A 5-year-old boy filled his tray with a calzone, grated cheese, a bag of reduced-fat Cheez-Its and trail mix with chocolate candy. A 6-year-old girl did the same, minus the trail mix.

The federal School Meals Initiative, launched in 1995, requires lunches to include no more than 30 percent fat, and less than 10 percent saturated fat.

But the rules only require schools to offer meals that meet these criteria, not to monitor closely which items students choose. And the rules apply only to full meals, although at many schools, children can buy a slice of pizza, a burrito or a bag of chips and call it lunch.

Nutritionists and others who study school lunches say that the government and schools must go further because of the influence they can have on teaching children better eating habits.

Some are calling for Congress to re-evaluate the National School Lunch Program when it comes up for reauthorization in 2009.

School districts decide what to serve and how strictly to control students’ choices, despite the federal rules.

“These are local decisions. That’s the way the law is set up,” said Jean Daniel, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which administers school meal programs.

Inland school food directors say they are trying to make lunches more nutritious by adding fresh fruit and vegetables and by asking vendors for products with more whole grains and fewer unhealthy oils.

For example, last August the San Bernardino City Unified School District, the Inland area’s largest, switched to chicken nuggets with whole-wheat breading. It is now testing a pizza with whole-grain crust.

School workers are supposed to encourage children to make healthy choices. But requiring students to take a piece of fruit or a helping of green beans can lead to waste.

“If you serve something that they don’t like, they don’t eat it, and we’ve all lost,” said Adriane Robles, San Bernardino’s director of nutrition services.

A Growing Problem

The food served in school cafeterias has taken on greater importance as Americans confront an epidemic of obesity. The obesity rate among school-age children has tripled since the 1970s.
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Nationwide, more than 17 percent of youths ages 6 to 19 were obese in 2003, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In California, about one in three children and one in four of teenagers are overweight or at risk of becoming overweight, according to the state Department of Health Services.

Overweight children and adolescents are more likely to have health problems such as Type 2 diabetes and asthma, as well as behavioral problems and depression, according to the California Center for Public Health Advocacy.

Doctors are even beginning to see obesity-related health problems once unheard of among children, such as liver cirrhosis.

Researchers now predict that one child in three born in 2000 or afterward will develop diabetes, said Pat Crawford, co-director of the Center for Weight and Health at UC Berkeley.

“We have created a monster here,” Crawford said.

While admitting that most children eat only one meal a day on campus, health advocates say school is one place where children can learn better eating habits. Schools nationwide serve lunch to 28 million children each day through the National School Lunch Program.

At Citrus Hills Intermediate School in the Corona-Norco Unified School District, many students ignore the bowls of fruit and carrots.

Students in the district can buy a burrito, cheeseburger or other entree only if they take at least one other item on a list that also includes french fries, hash browns or chips, and milk. For an extra 50 cents, students can buy a sports drink or bottled water.

“I don’t see anyone ever get fruit or carrots,” said seventh-grader Jacob Blumenthal, 13, as he carried his chicken tenders with ranch dressing, SunChips, Powerade drink and a cookie he purchased separately.

Jacob’s mother, Karin Shuler, said schools are limited by food costs and the difficulty of preparing food on a mass scale.

Still, she would like schools to get rid of the giant cookies and offer more healthy choices. Shuler sometimes makes lunches for her children to take to school.

“I think if you want a nutritious lunch, you have to pack it yourself,” she said.

Cracking Down

California schools soon will face stricter rules on doling out a la carte items not covered by the federal nutrition rules.
In 2005, the state Legislature banned soda in schools and restricted food sold everywhere in schools. Starting in July, schools will be able to sell only those a la carte items that have no more than 35 percent fat, and 10 percent saturated fat.

Gov. Schwarzenegger and some state legislators want updated rules for full meals, and they are targeting trans fats.

Last year, Schwarzenegger vetoed a bill that sought to increase state reimbursement to 21 cents for every subsidized school meal sold. He said schools should not get an extra 7 cents a meal unless they ban fried food, eliminate unhealthy trans fats and add more whole grains, fruits and vegetables.

State Sen. Tom Torlakson, D-Antioch, last month introduced legislation that would give all schools 21 cents per free or reduced-priced meal and 30 cents a meal if they followed these rules.

Many schools can’t afford to buy more fresh fruit and vegetables or products made with healthier oils, Torlakson said.

“They’ve scraped and skimped and are having a very difficult time making their programs work,” he said.

Assembly members Bonnie Garcia, R-Cathedral City; Jared Huffman, D-San Rafael; and Ted Lieu, D-Torrance; introduced bills last month that would get trans fats out of school food.

Trans fats result from adding hydrogen to oil in a process known as hydrogenation. The process makes oil solid and increases shelf life, but recent research shows trans fats raise bad cholesterol and suppress good cholesterol.

Funding Full Meals

School district food-service directors acknowledge that they use a la carte sales to cover their costs. Most districts require meal programs to support themselves, operating only on reimbursement from the state and federal governments, donated agricultural commodities and student payments.

The Riverside-based Alvord Unified School District expects to sell fewer individual items next year and to shift to selling more full meals. But officials are looking at cost figures before deciding whether to eliminate a la carte offerings, said Lisa Harris, the district’s director of child nutrition services.

Some food-service directors defend the a la carte items because students don’t always want to eat a full meal.

Some school districts found that they made more money after eliminating a la carte sales, but these districts first improved the quality of the meals they were selling, said Crawford, the UC Berkeley Center for Weight and Health co-director.

Congress should raise reimbursement rates so schools can make full meals more enticing, said Janet Poppendieck, a sociology professor at Hunter College in New York City and author of books on food policy. More money would allow schools to buy more local produce and do more cooking from scratch, she said.

The School Nutrition Association, which represents school food-service directors, also is calling for raising the reimbursement, which now amounts to $2.40 for each free meal, $2 per reduced-priced meal and 23 cents for each paid meal. Schools already are increasing their purchases of fresh fruit and vegetables, but the produce costs more than canned vegetables and fruit do, said Erik Peterson, spokesman for the association.

USDA is now reviewing just how much more it would cost for schools to increase their use of fresh produce, he said.

In addition to offering more nutritious food, more schools need to teach children about healthful eating, Crawford said.

“We’re missing the boat if we wait until middle school and high school to work aggressively because obesity is starting earlier and earlier,” she said.
Soda ban

State legislation approved in 2005 will ban soda in high schools. They already were barred from elementary and middle schools. Starting July 1, 50 percent of beverages sold to students during the school day must be*:

- Fruit- or vegetable-based drinks that are at least 50 percent juice without added sweeteners.

- Milk products, including soy, rice or similar non-dairy milk.

- Electrolyte-replacement drinks that contain no more than 42 grams of added sweetener per 20-ounce serving.

*Starting July 1, 2009, all beverages sold during the school day must meet the above guidelines.

SOURCE: SENATE BILL 965
Obesity

Percentage of obese children in 2003-04:

- 6- to 11-year-olds: 18.8%

- 12- to 19-year-olds: 17.4%

Source: U.S. CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL AND PREVENTION (national health and nutrition examination survey 2003-04)

Staff writer Adam C. Hartmann contributed to this report.