School Meals in the Twenty-first Century

Data gleaned from looking at the effects of school food programs and from related studies on malnutrition have informed the practice of medicine, views on nutrition, and public policy on issues from labor to science spending. In 1998 the Child Nutrition Reauthorization Act made the first substantial program improvements in almost twenty years, reducing meal program paperwork and funding a research pilot on the benefits of universal (free for all students) school breakfast. Changes gave greater flexibility to menu planners while maintaining the previous nutritional standards. Because meal programs frequently run with a goal of break-even finances, any changes in operations or overhead can have a direct and sometimes devastating effect. Meal programs are sensitive to such policies as the 2003 agenda to increase requirements for income verification. Moreover, such plans have been shown to decrease participation for immigrants and some of the very poor.