By a ratio of 3 to 1, public
school students in California say the new healthy school meals being served up
in California’s K-12 public schools are better than what they’ve had in the
past, according to a survey released today by The California Endowment, a
private, statewide health foundation.
The poll provides an early
measure of how the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act -- passed by Congress in 2010
and implemented at public schools across the nation on July 1, 2012 -- is being
received by those it impacts the most.
Health and education advocates
have lauded the new legislation as a major step forward in the national
movement to improve the health of school children. It raised nutritional
standards by increasing fruit and vegetable options, eliminating trans fats,
emphasizing low-fat and non-fat milk, increasing the number of whole grain
products, and setting limits on calories and sodium levels for school meals.
Nutrition experts from the
Institute of Medicine and the United States Department of Agriculture developed
the new guidelines, which advocates say will not only lead to healthier kids,
but happier and higher performing students at public schools across the nation.
“If today’s students eat better
and live healthier, we all benefit over the long run, in lower obesity and
diabetes rates, reduced health care costs, and improved academic performance,”
said Judi Larsen of The California Endowment.
Public schools across the country
have had two years to prepare for the implementation of the new federal
guidelines. Due to the time and effort exerted by many of those schools to
establish compliant meal programs, a fair amount of anticipation had built up
around the question of how the healthier meals would be embraced by students.
In two separate polls, conducted
over a 10-day period in early October, 509 public school students aged 13 and
up, as well as 600 parents of children enrolled in K-12 public schools, were
asked whether they thought the current school meals were an improvement over
the old ones, and whether they approved of the new federal nutrition standards.
Of the students surveyed, 50
percent said the meals are better this year than last year, compared to only 15
percent who said the new meals are worse, and 35 percent who said they’re the
same. Parents were more evenly divided: 37 percent believe the new meals are
better, while 20 percent think they are worse and 28 percent felt they were
unchanged.
As for the new federal nutrition
standards, 82 percent of the students said they support retaining the changes,
while parents approved of keeping the new guidelines at an even higher rate --
91 percent expressed support. Those responses were collected after survey
respondents were read a short description of the new guidelines.
However, overall awareness of the
new federal nutrition standards was low among parents in general. Only 36
percent of parents surveyed were aware of the new school meals policy, compared
to 73 percent of students.
The results also suggest that
when it comes to healthier lunches, taste still matters. In that regard, one
piece of data from the survey indicates that there still may be room for
improvement: 60 percent of surveyed students said they regularly throw away a
portion of their school meal, although there was no way to extrapolate from the
survey whether they did so because of bad taste or other possible
considerations, like lack of time or unappetizing presentation.
Survey participants were also
asked about whether they thought the new federal guidelines should be expanded
to include “competitive foods” – items available on campus that are served
outside of the school lunch plan – such as sodas, chips or other items
available for purchase at snack bars. On this question, overall support was
nearly identical, with 66 percent of parents and 65 percent of students
supporting the idea. However, parents expressed “strong support” at a higher
percentage (44 percent) than the students (24 percent).
Parent interviews were conducted
on cell phones or landline telephones, while students were surveyed via the
Internet. Interviews were conducted in English and Spanish. The poll has a
margin of error of plus or minus 4 percent.
New American Media
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