Mojica 1

Aldrich Mojica

Mrs. Larson

English 3 P, Period 2

8 March 2017

Multi-Genre Research Essay: School Lunch

The hustling and bustling cafeteria is a full go once the lunch bell rang to signal all the

students its time for the thirty minute break. Pushing, shoving, shouting, yelling are what you

expect once you enter the lunch line. Floor vibrates as people are rushing to get their food so

they will not have to worry about eating quickly. A typical midday experience on a school day

for the average high school student. Dinging of the registers erupt student by student passing

through the scanner and keypad. The National Food Lunch Program federally assisted meal

program assists public schools, private schools, and the residential child care program in

serving breakfast and lunch to its students. The program aims to provide nutritionally balanced

meals while being low-cost. The program of school lunch at school is not safe and should be

strictly regulated because the food is not regularly inspected, corporate companies are

influencing schools, and students are suffering from their food choices.

School lunches are not regularly inspected frequently as it should this causes a major

concern. In response to low quality products and needed safety standards, Peter Eisler Blake

Morrison and Anthony DeBarros, author of the 2009 article School Lunch Standards and

published in USA Today, stated The nations largest fast-food chains have higher quality and

safety standards for the meat they use than what the U.S. Department of Agriculture has for the
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meat used for the National School Lunch Program, which is served to 31 million students a day.

The government is focusing more on the public health rather than the students that repetitively

obtain their food each lunch period. However, the ABC News primetime producers discovered

shocking knowledge and explained on their website saying, dead rodents just feet from where

food was being prepared, roaches crawling along filthy floors, dishwashers that don't clean

children's trays, and food being kept at temperatures where potentially dangerous bacteria can

thrive. This is disturbing because it can be found all across the nation in a majority of the public

and private schools. We dont expect a gourmet meal created by the top chef, but we want decent

food at the least. Foodborne illnesses can be born in the food being cooked. In addition, the

school system is creating a messy operation with the lack of making sure the quality is met to

specified standards due to the missing inspectors.

Corporate companies are influencing our school systems and is causing a bad

environment towards our children, especially the food and beverage operations. Within the

spending of our students for their needs of hunger, Jennifer Rockne, author of the article

Branded: Corporations and our Schools and published in Reclaim Democracy!, stated

Americas kids represent a large and growing market. Elementary-aged children spend around

$15 billion per year and influence another $160 billion of their parents spending. Teenagers

have even greater economic clout, spending $57 billion personally and another $36 billion of

their families money annually. This is the prime target of numerous industries trying to gain

money over these adolescents. Using their parents hard earned money to satisfy their wantings

and not needs, this is consequential to families living in poor conditions. Furthermore, Josh

Bushey, the School District 11 Director of School Leadership in Colorado Springs, Colorado
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sent an email to all the principals in their existing schools. Jennifer Rockne makes a comeback to

uncover this issue by exposing Bushey in his letter, Dear Principal: Here we are in year two of

the great Coke contract. We must sell 70,000 cases of the product. Here is how we can do it:

Allow students to purchase and consume vended products throughout the day. If sodas are not

allowed in classes, consider allowing the juices, teas, and waters. The administration is altering

the policies and classroom environment of the schools to fulfill the goals the companies have set.

This should not be forced upon our children who are supposed to be attending a school to learn

and not to be brainwashed to choose a certain brand. They are being used to gain money for the

school district. The 2016 article of Campbellsville University introduced the idea of the USDA

contributing to the program, but are delayed due to profit. Gabe Duverge, author of the article

Healthy Body, Healthy Mind: The Impact of School Lunch on Student Performance, explained

how, As the USDA worked on turning the guidelines into regulations, pushback came from

several groups. Some members of Congress who had supported the legislation began to criticize

government intrusion into schools, and food companies that became fearful of falling profits

began to lobby for delaying the changes. Profit is always tied back to everything even though

the children should always be first. Congress will need to open their eyes and put a step forward

towards a better generation. They will have the students do what they want just to obtain the

money and not disappoint the corporate people, such as Coke.

Students nationwide is suffering from the food choices given to them on a daily basis

creating an unhealthy situation. The products are being re-engineered to fit the standards the

agencies have set for this school lunch program as explained by Kate Murphy from The New

York Times. She published a 2015 article Why Students Hate School Lunch quoting the
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Director of Culinary and Nutrition Services at the Minneapolis Public Schools who said, Other

than mandating more fruits and vegetables, the new regulations havent really changed anything

except force manufacturers to re-engineer products. The agencies are putting these new rules to

promote healthier options but it does not change the views of the manufacturers. They need to

work deeper in the system and fix the companies creating these foods. Other than re-engineered

food, the so called food has no flavor in it. Kate Murphy continues to explain in her article,

Cafeteria operators complain, the new regulations forbid them to serve a classic baguette,

semolina pasta or jasmine rice, much less the butter and flavorful sauces that often go with

them. Food options are minimal for cafeteria staff, which makes the students point the fingers at

them but it is not their fault. The program is restricting the school to serve specific tasteful,

healthy choices. None of the students should be struggling to pick from a small variety of

minimal quality choices they are given. Lastly, the Northwestern Medicine: Lindenhurst Health

& Fitness Center released an article on their website explaining facts about school lunches,

School lunches are not nutritious. Recent data shows that while an estimated 30.6 million US

students eat school lunches, only 6% of school lunch programs meet the nutritional requirements

established by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Although many school districts are

improving their offerings, most are still loaded with fried foods, soda pop and foods that are high

in fats and sugars. The nation needs to catch up on their new standards to satisfy the needs of

the students. The regulations only made schools re-engineer their products that consists of no

flavor.

Schools and school districts claim to be up to standards but there is no possible way to

check for ourselves because they might be lying to parents and students. Looking at the schools
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website, you can find what you want to hear, like on the Somerville Public Schools district

website in the Food & Nutrition Services section says, All food and beverage items sold

through the a la carte programs meet the guidelines established by the Massachusetts Action for

Healthy Kids. However, after researching and finding evidence of schools being unsanitary and

straight out gross makes a person double think if it really is meeting the guidelines. In addition,

The United States Department of Agriculture: Food and Nutrition Service explains how the

program is ran and who is running it in their and on the website in the section School Meals,

said The Food and Nutrition Service administers several programs that provide healthy food to

children including the National School Lunch Program, School Breakfast Program, Child and

Adult Care Food Program, Summer Food Service Program, Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program,

and Special Milk Program. Administered by state agencies, each of these programs helps fight

hunger and obesity by reimbursing organizations such as schools, child care centers, and

after-school programs for providing healthy meals to children. We have a variety and

abundance of agencies assessing the program but they are not reaching the standards as fast food

chains it is a situation that needs to be resolved. The program should be more measured in

place to ensure the safety of the students. It is hard to believe a big government run school

system can keep tabs of all their schools reaching their expectations if they dont send people out

to check.

School lunches are not regularly inspected, while corporate companies are influencing

schools, and students are suffering from their food choices are the reasons why the program of

school lunch at school is not safe and should be strictly regulated. Government and program

officials to check back into the school lunch policies and readjust the necessary sections to create
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a better environment for school lunches. These strict rules are not really helping the schools but

are making them use up money and formulate the food to fit the standard. Students deal with this

program on a daily basis once that lunch bell rings. We need to protect our children and peers

even ourselves, as students we need to be healthy.

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Works Cited

Buffenbarger, Amy. "Quality of School Lunches Questioned." NEA. National Education

Association,

n.d. Web. 07 Mar. 2017. <http://www.nea.org/home/37485.htm>. (Nonprofit)

Duverge, Gabe. "The Impact of School Lunch on Student Performance." Campbellsville

University

Online. Campbellsville University, 07 Dec. 2016. Web. 07 Mar. 2017.

<http://online.campbellsville.edu/education/healthy-body-healthy-mind-the-impact-of-sc

hool-lunch-on-student-performance/>. (University)

"Food & Nutrition Services." Somerville Public Schools. Somerville Public Schools, n.d. Web.

08

Mar. 2017.

<http://www.somerville.k12.ma.us/district-departments/food-nutrition-services>.

(Company)

Murphy, Kate. "Why Students Hate School Lunches." The New York Times. The New York

Times

Company, 26 Sept. 2015. Web. 07 Mar. 2017.

<https://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/27/sunday-review/why-students-hate-school-lunches

.html>. (Magazine)

News, ABC. "How Safe Are School Lunches?" ABC News. ABC News Network, 07 Nov. 2016.

Web. 08 Mar. 2017. <http://abcnews.go.com/Primetime/story?id=132030&page=1>.

(Magazine)
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Rockne, Jennifer. "Branded: Corporations and Our Schools." Reclaim Democracy! Reclaim

Democracy!, Feb. 2002. Web. 07 Mar. 2017.

<http://reclaimdemocracy.org/branded_schools/>. (Nonprofit)

"School Meals." Food and Nutrition Service. United States Department of Agriculture, 29 Dec.

2016.

Web. 07 Mar. 2017. <https://www.fns.usda.gov/school-meals/child-nutrition-programs>.

(Government)

"Three Facts About School Lunches." Lindenhurst Health & Fitness Center. Northwestern

Medicine, n.d. Web. 07 Mar. 2017.

<http://www.lindenhursthfc.com/three-facts-about-school-lunches>. (Nonprofit)