Mr. Pollan states the government dumps food on schools
“that is very fatty, high in salt, highly processed.” The National School Lunch
Program (NSLP) is strictly regulated by USDA guidelines specifying
requirements for meals served to students. For example, under these USDA
guidelines, a standard 6”sandwich from Subway, with all its’ fresh vegetables and freshly baked bread,
would not qualify for a school lunch. Some of the requirements to meet the
USDA guidelines:
§ contain no more than 30 percent of calories from fat;
§ contain no more than 10 percent of calories from saturated fat;
and provide
one-third of the Dietary Reference Intakes (DRIs)
for calories, protein,
vitamin A, vitamin C, iron, and calcium.
Pollan’s rant is disingenuous as he states, “Most school
lunch programs in America are a scandal”, “A disposal system for surplus
agricultural commodities”, “School cafeterias no longer have kitchens, they
have giant microwaves, so they are utterly dependent on processed foods”.
The
NSLP operates 101,000 schools providing 31 million children daily in 2010.
There are programs that need to be investigated, most are decent and
numerous programs are outstanding. I would rate the government commodity program an 8 on
a scale of 10. The website for commodities has a complaint section and my
assumption is that it is not flooded with complaints. I am an advocate of a
free market system, thus I oppose farm subsidies. That does not correlate to schools
being a dumping ground for farmer’s unused products. Does Pollan think school
workers would be complacent in accepting “crummy” government commodities?
It is somewhat true
that schools no longer have kitchens. Today, the prevailing concept is to build
a central production site and satellite meals out to the surrounding schools.
This is a strictly a financial decision as equipment and labor is drastically reduced at
each school. Instead of having a fully equipped facility, the kitchen usually
is outfitted with a refrigerator and freezer. Labor is reduced from a full
staff to a few part-time workers. The savings on benefit packages is huge, not
to mention workers compensation and hourly totals. The trade-off is the quality
is not at the same level as a meal cooked on-site. There are also products
which cannot be shipped as those products do not hold in transporting. The
giant microwave reference is one for the ages as it is so hysterical. (see Phyllis & Lois).
For more nutritional information regarding school lunch visit the following links:
