The Salisbury Post published an article yesterday discussing the health implications of school lunch programs in public schools. Francis Koste met with state legislators from the Rowan/Cabarrus County area for a briefing on the topic.
This section is noteworthy:
Koster said the problem with school lunches starts at the federal level because of the way agriculture is subsidized. Between 1995 and 2004, he said, nearly 75 percent of the entire U.S. expenditure for agricultural subsidies went to feed crops and direct aid supporting meat and dairy production.
The subsidized food is often sold or donated to school lunch programs. Less than 1 percent of subsidies go toward fruit and vegetable production.
“This system makes it hard for food service directors to choose healthier foods when chicken nuggets and hot dogs are essentially free,” Koster told the legislators.
Efforts in the pediatric community to teach a healthy, wellness-based lifestyle are being thwarted by the government, Koster said. According to “the most recent report we could find,” he said, milk, pizza, ground beef, cheese and potato products (frozen and chips) are the leading food categories in school lunches.
The number one food product distributed under the school lunch programs is pizza, according to Koster.
This report by the Hoover Institution gives some perspective on the relationship between school lunch and leading food companies.
