School food policies and practices - Nutrition in Schools

Nutrition Research Newsletter, Jan, 2003

The school environment has a broad potential impact on students' food choices and dietary quality. More than one half of youth in the United States eat either breakfast or lunch form a school meal program. Role modeling by peers and adults at school, as well as school policies that support or detract from healthful nutrition, are important school environmental influences on students' food choices.

Increasingly, students are choosing to purchase foods from competitive sources other than the school lunch program, such as a la carte and vending machines. School meals offered through the US Department of Agriculture National School Lunch Program must meet nutrition guidelines, but competitive foods have no federal guidelines that they must comply to. In addition, many schools have tobacco and alcohol policies but nutrition policy has not been a high priority. Since little is known about the secondary school food environment or policies and practices related to food and nutrition, a study was conducted to describe food-related polices and practices in secondary schools in Minnesota.

The study population was composed of 421 members of the 2001 Minnesota Association of Secondary School Principles (MASSP). The principals and assistant principals were mailed a 360-item survey, which included school and principal demographics, the school food environment and practices, including the presences of a la carte, snack bars and vending machines, school food and nutrition policies and principals' attitudes about the school food environment.

Among the respondents, 95% were principals and 5% were assistant principals and among schools, 99% were public schools and 69% were rural in geographic location. Overall, only 32% reported that their school had a school policy about nutrition and food and even fewer reported policies regarding the types of foods and beverages served at various school function or sold in school vending machines or school stores. Principals reported positive attitudes about providing a healthful school food environment, but 98% of the schools had soft drink vending machines and 77% had contracts with soft drink companies. Principals with more positive attitudes, larger schools, rural schools, and schools in smaller district sizes reported a greater number of school food policies. Food sold at school fundraisers was most often candy, fruit and cookies.

Dietetics professionals who work in secondary school settings should collaborate with other key school staff members and parents to develop and implement a comprehensive school nutrition policy. Such a policy could foster a school food environment that is supportive of healthful food choices among youth. An additional question of interest related to this topic is whether school policies related to improving the school food environment will in fact result in school practices that promote more healthful food choices by students at school.

Simone A. French, Mary Story and, Jayne A. Fulkerson, School food policies and practices: a state-wide survey of secondary school practices, JADA 102(12): 1785-1789 (December 2002) [Address correspondence to: S.A. French, University of Minnesota, Division of Epidemiologv, 300 S Second St, Suite 300, Minneapolis, MN 55454-1015. Email: French@epi.umn.edu]