
Shocker.
Via CBS/Conn:
Though many students may be loading up fruits and vegetables on their lunch trays, a lot of those aren’t actually being eaten.
New federal guidelines that require healthier school lunches are in effect, but a lot of children are simply throwing out fruits and vegetables instead of eating them, according to a new study.
University of Vermont researchers conducted a small study using digital photos to capture students’ lunch trays after selecting food, as they were leaving the lunch line, and then again after they passed their lunch trays to the food disposal area, as reported by CBS News. The study indicates that while more children are placing fruits and vegetables on their trays, they’re consuming fewer of them, with food waste increasing by 56 percent.
“We saw this as a great opportunity to access the policy change and ask a really important question, which was, ‘Does requiring a child to select a fruit or vegetable under the updated national school lunch program guidelines that came into effect in 2012 correspond with increased fruit and vegetable consumption?’” lead study author Sarah Amin told CBS News. “The answer was clearly no.”
The team of researchers evaluated hundred of tray observations over the course of 21 visits to two elementary school, both before and after the USDA guidelines were implemented.
Similar studies have been conducted on fruit and vegetable consumption in schools following the federal guidelines, though a 2014 Harvard School study found conflicting data that suggested kids were eating more fruits and vegetables.
