Editorial: Review all school food for nutritional value

Jan 08, 2008 @ 11:48 PM

The Herald-Dispatch

Amid concerns about problems with obesity and dental health among West Virginia schoolchildren, the Legislature will consider a new law to ban soft drinks and sugary snacks from all West Virginia schools.

According to The Associated Press, about 20 counties have similar, voluntary guidelines in place, but the legislation would make it mandatory in all 55 counties.

The bill would only allow the sale of water, fruit and vegetable juices, and some types of milk. It also would restrict snacks to fruits, vegetables, cheese, yogurt, nuts and seeds in servings of 200 calories or less. The measure is similar to a proposal being considered by the state Board of Education.

This bill is worth considering, but not only because schoolchildren consume too much cola and too many candy bars. The real question — and one that must be addressed — is what foods should be available in schools. That includes an honest discussion of the nutritional value of hot school lunches.

Some school lunch food can charitably be described as junk. Don’t believe it? Just check the school lunch menus some time. How can a health teacher tell children to avoid certain foods at a fast food restaurant when the school cafeteria has some of those items on its menu every week?

Of course, much attention of what goes on in school focuses on academics and on social needs. Nutrition has been defined as what children can buy from vending machines. But the discussion of nutrition, obesity and oral health cannot end at those machines.

Cafeterias have a delicate balancing act. They must provide food at a reasonable cost, but that food must be what children will eat. High schools and middle schools provide several options for students, while elementary schools offer few choices.

You don’t have to spend much time in a school to notice that the rate of obesity among children has ballooned, the same as it has with adults. In addition to that, record numbers of children suffer asthma and food allergies.

It’s not an easy question, and it probably won’t be solved in this one session of the Legislature. But it needs to be considered.

There are economic questions. Among them is the likelihood that schools with vending machines could lose income for school supplies and other educational needs if those needs are longer subsidized by money from the vending machines.

And school officials will have to ensure that the fruit and vegetable juices are healthier than the soft drinks that are being banished. Another question that will need to be asked: If carbonated beverages are banished, what about chocolate milk?

And what about children — especially those in the upper grades — who refuse to eat in the cafeteria and decide to buy their lunch from vending machines? How will their habits be addressed?

If the state is to enforce its vision of what constitutes healthy food and drink offerings in schools, that vision should extend to the hot lunches the school systems sell, too. Dealing with what comes out of the vending machines is only the first of many steps to take in providing school children with healthy, tasty food at a reasonable price.