With the passing of the Healthy Hunger Free Kids Act, the biggest concern for school districts are the increasing costs for food and school lunches. In an article posted online to the Quad-City Times many cafeterias are concerned with how they are going to pay for the healthier options. Many students buy items such as cookies, chips, sodas and french fries as part of their lunch options. However, schools are now making it a requirement that students chose the healthier options over the unhealthy options. According to the article, "Schools also will have to require students to take more vegetables and fruits on their plates at meals, even if they walk straight out of the checkout line and dump them in the trash. That's a big concern, and it doesn't just affect students' health. It also hurts their schools' food service budgets."Food costs are expected to increase by 8 cents to 23.5 cents a meal, but the federal government plans to reimburse that expense by just 6 cents a meal for the 11,765 lunches served per day.
I feel like many school districts are concerned with the increase in price. However, the difference in what is offered after the HHFKA and what was before will make a huge impact on the choices students make. What is the funniest part about the differences in food is half of the students won't even realize the difference. One school district in the article has been offering whole wheat bread and hoagies for a year now just to see if students would notice! Also the price of wheat versus white isn't that big (11cents vs 9 cents).
The entire article is posted below:
http://qctimes.com/news/local/article_14c1e894-73a2-11e0-929c-001cc4c002e0.html
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