Price, taste remain challenges for healthy foods in schools

Less than half of school districts that pledged to provide healthy food and beverages for sale in schools have managed to implement the policies, due in large to the high costs of healthy products, and to students being reluctant to accept these, says a new report by the School Nutrition Association (SNA).

Published this week to mark the first-year anniversary of wellness policies in schools, the report tracks their implementation progress, including the establishment of nutrition guidelines for products sold in schools.

Local wellness policies, required in every school that participates in the school lunch or school breakfast program- the large majority of US schools- were designed to address the problem of childhood obesity. They require that schools set nutrition standards for all foods sold in school, including in vending machines, a la carte lines, and school stores.

However, results from a survey of 976 school nutrition directors indicate that implementation has been more of a challenge for policies that address foods and beverages offered outside of the school nutrition program, said SNA.

Fewer than half of all districts that included these policy components have finished implementing them, according to the new report, From Cupcakes to Carrots: Local Wellness Policies One Year Later.

"Finding affordable products that meet policy nutrition standards, acceptance by students and monitoring/oversight of the policy were the biggest implementation challenges cited," said SNA.

Steve - there will be growing pains of course. However, real progress will not be made unless the national standards, as well as the commodities offered by the USDA, change dramatically. This was outlined in a wonderful annual report issued by the President's Cancer Commission.