Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, September 5, 1993 TAG: 9309050043
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-18 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: COLUMBIA, MD. LENGTH: Medium
Some give the fries a thorough dusting from oversized containers of salt and ladle on the ketchup. It's a disturbing but incomplete snapshot of school lunches both at Atholton and other American public schools, whose menus are shaped in part by food supplied from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Slowly, the department is looking for ways to get kids to eat more fresh fruits and vegetables and other healthy stuff. Facing the reality of a fast-food culture, it is trying to make sure that the inevitable pizza has even less fat and the hamburger is as lean as taste buds allow, the taco has ground turkey.
The department, with former consumer advocate Ellen Haas in charge of its feeding programs, plans to announce small steps this week to make school lunches healthier in the short run, plus hearings on how to make longer-term improvements.
The department has gradually lowered the fat in ground beef; required that fruits and vegetables be packed with less salt and sugar; added more fish, ground turkey and part-skim mozzarella; added more whole grains; discouraged deep frying in favor of oven baking; and eliminated tropical oils and animal fats.
The next step, to be announced this week, will be increased purchases of fresh fruits and vegetables. Of the 756 million pounds of fruits and vegetables supplied by the Agriculture Department last school year, less than 18 million were fresh. Those consisted of apples, grapefruit, oranges, pears, potatoes and tomatoes.
But Haas' experts might want to look at Atholton and other schools here in Howard County between Washington and Baltimore. The lunch program, viewed as one of the best by school cafeteria operators, offers fruits and vegetables, vegetarian dishes, and a variety of school-lunch choices.
For the same $1.35 it costs for a pizza-based meal, the cafeteria offers a filling salad made of two cups of lettuce, shredded cabbage and carrots, thick slices of green pepper, three cherry tomatoes; a 2-ounce serving of tuna salad or shredded cheese; a fruit salad with fresh watermelon; and a half-pint of skim or 2 percent milk.
Look again, and you'll see some pizza plates have an added serving of salad and fresh watermelon. A few students at Howard High help themselves to fresh cuts of broccoli, celery and carrots served with their deli sandwiches.
The milk lockers have just a few cartons of whole, which federal law says they must carry. The chocolate milk is 1 percent fat. The mozzarella on the pizza is part-skim. The tuna comes packed in water.
Even when pizza and fries or hamburger and fries top the menu, dietitians assure they're cooked to keep the fat down so students don't get more than 30 percent of their calories from fat. Computer-generated fact sheets tell students the fat, protein and carbohydrate breakdown of their meals.
But health awareness still does battle with fast-food cravings.
"I think they ought to contract out the school lunch business to some fast-food joint," says Ben Mowery, 13, who complains that school lunches seem to be designed by "committee."
The National School Lunch Program feeds about 25 million children a day, more than half poor enough to get the meals for free or just 40 cents. Of the program's $5 billion cost each year, $4.3 billion goes toward subsidizing the meals and $700 million to buy commodities.
Consumer advocates have long argued that the commodities, which must be purchased with an eye toward lowering farm surpluses, have encouraged unhealthy eating. The beef and cheese have been too high in fat, the fruits and vegetables packed with sugar and salt. To aid dairy farmers, the department gives away tons of butter.
"We have a commitment, and we'll state a number," said Haas, assistant secretary for food and consumer services.
by CNB