The Efficacy and Cost-Effectiveness of Replacing Whole Apples with Sliced in the National School Lunch Program

The National School Lunch Program (NSLP) serves 29.6 million lunches each day. Schools must offer ½ a cup of fruit for each lunch tray. Much of this fruit may be wasted, leaving the schools in a dilemma. The objectives of this study were to evaluate the consumption of whole vs. sliced apples and determine the cost-effectiveness of the intervention. Researchers weighed apple waste at baseline and three post-intervention time points in one rural Midwest school. The costs of the intervention were collected from the school. The cost-effectiveness analysis estimates how often apples need to be served to offset the costs of the slicing intervention. A total of (n = 313) elementary student students participated. Students consumed significantly more sliced as compared to whole apples in intervention months 3 (β = 21.5, p < 0.001) and 4 (β = 27.7, p < 0.001). The intervention cost was USD 299. The value of wasted apple decreased from USD 0.26 at baseline to USD 0.23 wasted at post-intervention. The school would need to serve 9403 apples during the school year (54 times) to cover the expenses of the intervention. In conclusion, serving sliced apples may be a cost-effective way to improve fruit consumption during school lunch.

Design of a distribution network for the school lunch program

The national school lunch program (NSLP) is crucial for providing healthy, inexpensive, or free lunches to children, thus benefiting society. Designing a distribution network for the program requires solving a location and routing problem. In this paper, first, we formulate a multi-objective non-linear integer programming formulation of the problem. Next, we develop a two-step approach since the problem is Np-hard. The first stage presents a K-mean clustering method that deals with routing decisions by determining the locations of food processing centers and allocating schools to these centers. The second stage offers a multi-objective mixed-integer linear mathematical model for finding the locations of distribution centers. Besides economic and environmental factors, we optimize travel time in the network as perishable items are involved. A weighted sum approach is presented for different weights of objectives. We provide a real case study in Turkey to demonstrate the applicability of the two-stage approach proposed in this study. The numerical results provide valuable information for decision-makers and authorities to prioritize and prepare action plans.

Authorship Correction: The Good Food for Learning Universal Curriculum-Integrated Healthy School Lunch Intervention: Protocol for a Two-Year Matched Control Pre-Post and Case Study (Preprint)

BACKGROUND Good nutrition affects children’s health, well-being, and learning, and schools offer an important setting to promote healthy behaviors that can last a lifetime. Once children reach school age, they spend more of their waking hours in school than in any other environment. Children’s eating habits may be easier to influence than those of adults. In Canada, households with children are more likely to experience food insecurity, and school food programs that are universally available to all children can support the development of healthy eating patterns across groups of varying socioeconomic status. There is a significant gap in the rigorous community-engaged academic research on the impact of school meal programs, especially universal ones. OBJECTIVE The aim of this population health intervention research is to study the impact of a 2-year universal, curriculum-integrated healthy school lunch program in elementary schools in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada, on food consumption, dietary quality and food and nutrition-related knowledge, attitudes, and practices. METHODS This population health intervention study will be conducted in 2 intervention elementary schools matched with 2 control schools. We will collect preintervention data, including objective measurements of food eaten at school and food-related knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors. This will be followed by the intervention itself, along with qualitative case studies of the intervention process in the 2 intervention schools. Then, we will collect postintervention data similar to the preintervention data. Finally, we will finish the data analysis and complete the ongoing sharing of learning from the project. RESULTS This study was funded in April 2020 but because of the COVID-19 pandemic, data collection did not begin until May 2021. The intervention will begin in September 2021 and end in June 2023, with end point data collection occurring in May and June 2023. The case study research will begin in September 2021 and will be ongoing for the duration of the intervention. CONCLUSIONS The opportunity we have to systematically and comprehensively study a curriculum-integrated school lunch program, as well as the promising practices for school food programs across Canada, is without precedent.

Evaluation of the National School Lunch Program at a Public Charter School in Duval County, Jacksonville, Florida, USA

The National School Lunch Program (NSLP) is the second largest meal program in the United States, operating in Elementary, Secondary and not for profit private schools. The goals and objectives of the NSLP is to provide free, healthy, nutritious and balanced meals to students each school day so they can develop into healthy adults. This study sought to assess whether the goals and objectives of the NSLP were being met. A mixed method with a convergent design was employed with a sample of 30 students and 2 staff. Findings revealed that majority of students believed that meals served are healthy, nutritious and balanced and are served timely. Majority of the respondents indicated that staff and servers in the school cafeteria are friendly and accommodating. It can be deduced from the findings that the school met the objectives of the program to a great extent but there is room for improvement since there are students who were served with nutritional foods but still did not consume portions of it. It is therefore recommended that the school incorporate healthy eating habits in the school’s curriculum including health education and promotions, which can help to boost consumption and increase the nutritional intake of vital nutrients in students.

Good Food For Learning: A Universal Curriculum-Integrated Healthy Lunch Intervention Study (Preprint)

UNSTRUCTURED Good nutrition impacts children’s health, wellbeing and learning, and schools offer an important setting to promote healthy behaviors that can last a lifetime. Once children reach school age, they spend more of their waking hours in school than in any other environment. Children’s eating habits may be easier to influence than those of adults. In Canada, households with children are more likely to experience food insecurity, and school food programs that are universally available to all children can support the development of healthy eating patterns across groups of varying socioeconomic status. There is a significant gap in rigorous community-engaged academic research on the impact of school meal programs, especially universal ones. The purpose of this population health intervention research is to study the impacts of a two-year universal, curriculum-integrated healthy school lunch program in elementary schools in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada on food consumption, dietary quality and food and nutrition-related knowledge, attitudes and practices. This population health intervention study will take place in two intervention elementary schools matched with two control schools. We will collect pre-intervention data including objective measurement of food eaten at school and food-related knowledge, attitudes and behaviors. This will be followed by the intervention itself along with qualitative case studies of the intervention process in the two intervention schools. Then we will collect post-intervention data similar to pre-intervention. Finally, we will wrap up data analysis and complete the ongoing sharing of learning from the project. The opportunity we have to systematically and comprehensively study a curriculum-integrated school lunch program, as well as the promising practices for school food programs across Canada is without precedent.

Sensory Evaluation of Plant-Based Protein Entrees for the National School Lunch Program

Objectives To assess the acceptability of two newly developed plant-based protein entrees to be served in the National School Lunch Program (NSLP) among middle school students in the state of Georgia. Methods Two newly developed plant-based entrees (sweet potato chili fries, lentil-based sloppy joes) were introduced at lunch and sensory evaluation was conducted using a nine-point hedonic scale were used to evaluate overall liking (OL) and specific sensory attributes (appearance, flavor, texture) of lunch entrees immediately following lunch. Recipe formulations were designed to meet NSLP standards, to address the recent popularity of plant-based meat alternatives, and to incorporate the flavor preferences of student populations. Sensory evaluation of both plant-based entrees and all other entrees sold at lunch or brought from home were assessed. Results A total of 964 sensory evaluations were collected from middle school students in grades 6–8 in the Jackson County School District in Jefferson, Georgia. The plant-based entrees had a mean OL = 2.43, appearance = 3.00, texture = 3.58, flavor = 2.63. The regular hotline entrees had a mean OL = 5.66, appearance = 5.21, texture = 5.16, flavor = 5.75. A la carte entrees had a mean OL = 6.07, appearance = 5.65, texture = 5.64, flavor = 5.95. Entrees brought from home had a mean OL = 8.14, appearance = 7.82, texture = 7.84, flavor = 8.19. Regressions and t-tests were used to determine significant differences in waste using the statistical software Stata. Conclusions Little research has been conducted utilizing sensory evaluation to determine student liking of plant-based entrees. Plant-based entrees were liked least out of all entrees offered at school or brought from home. Sensory evaluation may be utilized to develop healthy school meals, ensure recipes are responsive to the taste preferences of children and profitable on the school lunch menu. Funding Sources Jackson County School District, Georgia Department of Education.