Invited review: Maintaining and growing fluid milk consumption by children in school lunch programs in the United States

Prior research has shown that participation in the United States’ National School Lunch Program (NSLP) is associated with consuming higher-quality lunches and diets overall, but little is known about differences by income and race/ethnicity. This analysis used 24 h dietary recall data from the School Nutrition and Meal Cost Study to examine how NSLP participation affects the diet quality of students in different income and racial/ethnic subgroups. Diet quality at lunch and over 24 h was assessed using the Healthy Eating Index (HEI)-2010, where higher scores indicate higher-quality intakes. HEI-2010 scores for NSLP participants and nonparticipants in each subgroup were estimated, and two-tailed t-tests were conducted to determine whether participant–nonparticipant differences in scores within each subgroup were statistically significant. NSLP participants’ lunches received significantly higher total HEI-2010 scores than those of nonparticipants for lower-income, higher-income, non-Hispanic White, and non-Hispanic Black students, suggesting that participating in the NSLP helps most students consume healthier lunches. These significantly higher total scores for participants’ lunch intakes persisted over 24 h for higher-income students and non-Hispanic White students but not for lower-income students or students of other races/ethnicities. For NSLP participants in all subgroups, the nutritional quality of their 24 h intakes was much lower than at lunch, suggesting that the positive influence of the NSLP on their overall diet quality was negatively influenced by foods consumed the rest of the day (outside of lunch).

Download Full-text

Comprehensive Survey of Pasteurized Fluid Milk Produced in the United States Reveals a Low Prevalence of Listeria monocytogenes

Journal of Food Protection ◽

10.4315/0362-028x-68.5.973 ◽

2005 ◽

Vol 68 (5) ◽

pp. 973-979 ◽

Cited By ~ 27

Author(s):

CARY FRYE ◽

CATHERINE W. DONNELLY

Keyword(s):

United States ◽

Listeria Monocytogenes ◽

The United States ◽

Assay Method ◽

Chocolate Milk ◽

Milk Samples ◽

Nonfat Milk ◽

Whole Milk ◽

Comprehensive Survey ◽

Fluid Milk

A comprehensive survey was undertaken to generate contemporary data on the prevalence of Listeria monocytogenes in pasteurized fluid milk produced in the United States. Samples (5,519) near the sell-by expiration date were purchased at retail outlets over a 5-week period and analyzed for presence of L. monocytogenes. Products consisted of whole milk, nonfat milk, and chocolate milk packaged in gallon, half gallon, quart, pint, and half-pint containers. Samples were collected from both large and small retail stores in urban and suburban locations in four FoodNet cities (Baltimore, Md., Atlanta, Ga., St. Paul/Minneapolis, Minn., and San Francisco, Calif.). Samples were prescreened for L. monocytogenes by the AOAC-approved rapid Vitek immunodiagnostic assay system, enzyme-linked fluorescent assay method. Positive prescreening samples were cultured according to the Bacteriological Analytical Manual, enumerated for L. monocytogenes with a nine-tube most-probable-number (MPN) procedure, and confirmed by biochemical characterization. The frequency of isolation of L. monocytogenes in these products was 0% (0 of 1,897) in whole milk, 0.05% (1 of 1,846) in nonfat milk, 0% (0 of 1,669) in chocolate milk, and 0% (0 of 107) in other (reduced fat and low fat) milk samples. Overall, L. monocytogenes was confirmed in only 0.018% of pasteurized milk samples (1 of 5,519). Enumeration of the single confirmed positive nonfat milk sample revealed low-level contamination (<0.3 MPN/g), even when sampled 5 days past the expiration of the sell-by date. The results confirm the low frequency of contamination of pasteurized fluid milk products by L. monocytogenes for products sold in the United States and reaffirm the reduction of contamination frequency of fluid milk by L. monocytogenes when compared with earlier estimates from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration Dairy Safety Initiatives Program.

Download Full-text