School officials around the nation have had to deal with problems of feeding their students in the wake of multiple regulations on the feeding programs of the schools. For example, while the policymakers want to ensure that the students are fed from healthy foods, another concern has arisen; the fact that students return from lunch while they are still hungry. For such a reason, there is plenty of wasted food while the students feel that they do not eat enough. Much governmental effort has been done over the last five years to improve the feeding programs of schools but policy developers are yet to understand the fact that most of the students experience problems with the feeding programs of the schools. The real problems with such programs range from healthy eating, enough helpings, and the fact that most students are picky eaters.
Most of the recipe books of schools around the US were developed in the 1950s and they continue to be used presently. At that time, the programs of feeding American schoolchildren considered the elements of nutrition through emphasizing the need for such food to be prepared from hygienic conditions. Specifically, the schools were required to prepare their meals while ensuring that they would be appropriate for the types of students that required to be fed (Barr, 2015). However, the changes in the modern society have now caused such food to be produced elsewhere, which has resulted in multiple problems as described subsequently.
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The biggest concern of the food served to American schoolchildren is that of its levels of nutrition. Much effort has been made in the recent five years to improve the nutritional quality of the food served to children. However, a problem exists in the fact that the school programs can no longer afford to prepare their food (Barr, 2015). For such reasons, schools have shifted their attention to food companies, which provide them with the same diets as those that are prescribed in their recipe books. Such food is always refined and Americans have been accusing it for having contributed to their eating problems over the years. It means, therefore, that the problems of underfunding the feeding programs of the students have exposed them to unhealthy refined food, which is capable of causing health problems such as diabetes and obesity.
American schoolchildren do not get enough food from their school feeding programs. Federal and state government efforts to address the problems of unhealthy eating among the schoolchildren have been challenged by the fact that most students do not get enough helpings (Siegel, 2016). The schools are not to blame for this problem but the policy makers are. For example, schoolchildren in the US spend an average of $3 on their meals and such monies go to the food companies and state authorities that supply the food, collect litter, and the rest of the activities related to the programs (Barr, 2015). Comparatively, Nations such as France spend an average of $7 per child on food. It means, therefore, that French schools have a better capacity of providing more food to their students than do those in the US. Resultantly, most of the students do not have enough to eat, yet the schools give the best that they can afford to them.
School food in the US also faces the challenge of the fact that not all the students have the same preferences and tastes. A recent move by federal legislators to regulate the levels of sodium intake, for example, has meant that school food only have certain levels of salt (Morgan and Sonnino, 2013). However, it is imperative noting that some of the students have not welcomed the decision since they would like to have some added salt at least to make their vegetables and other foods palatable. However, because of the stringent regulations, such students have been forced to abide by what the authorities state. The problem lies in the fact that some of the students are picky eaters, which means that a lack of choice makes them to avoid eating while at school. It is for such a reason that while students do not have enough to eat, the amounts of leftover food is high. The students who feel that the foods are not prepared to their desired standards have an option of throwing their food away since some schools demand that all the students participate in eating programs.
In conclusion, despite the governmental efforts to ensure that American schoolchildren have healthy and enough food, such efforts have been thwarted by the fact that legislators have failed in the provision of healthy food. Specifically, a reliance on food companies has caused the children to be feeding on processed foods that have been associated with health problems of the nation. If the nation is to deal with issues of unhealthy eating such diabetes, hypertension, and obesity, then it has to ensure proper preparation of the food. Because of the numerous regulations on the feeding programs, schools have not been able to provide enough food. Despite the fact that students do not have enough to eat, there volumes of leftovers is alarming because picky eaters do not find the meals enjoyable.
References
Barr, S. (2015). School Food Problems are American Food Problems . HuffPost . Retrieved 6 November 2017, from https://www.huffingtonpost.com/sadie-barr/school-food-problems-are-american-food-problems_b_6754674.html
Morgan, K., & Sonnino, R. (2013). The school food revolution: Public food and the challenge of sustainable development . Routledge.
Siegel, B. (2017). The Real Problem With Lunch . Nytimes.com . Retrieved 6 November 2017, from https://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/16/opinion/the-real-problem-with-lunch.html
