Five days a week. One time a day. Students in schools go through the lunch line. They get their tray, take a seat, and pick at the food staring them right in the face. The bell rings. They get up, throw the barely-touched food away, and walk to class just as hungry as they were before they sat down. When President Harry Truman signed the National School Lunch Act in 1946, the idea was to establish a program that serves a nutritionally balanced, healthy, energizing meal to the students all across America (USDA, 2016). The National School and Lunch Program has attempted to carry this mission out. However, the solutions that were implemented have become bland and repetitive. Considering that lunch could be the only meal a child eats all day, it shouldn’t be reheated peas and macaroni and cheese every single day. The program needs to reinvent the meals that are being served in schools all across …show more content…
There’s a truck that brings in bags of chicken, hot dogs, pork, and any other type of meat. There’s a truck that brings in chocolate, white, and strawberry milk. There’s a truck that brings in frozen strawberries, oranges, and pineapple. According the Huffington Post researcher and writer, Sadie Barr, this is one of the main problems with the lunch program. She states, “Focusing solely on the nutritional value of the items being served at schools is not the best gauge of healthfulness. More important is how, when, and where the food is made, and by whom.” (Barr, 2015). As contradicting as this statement may seem, it’s a very accurate conclusion. Even though these foods may certainly be considered to be healthy, they’re from big manufacturing companies. They’re pre-cooked and then frozen so that they can be distributed to schools. These foods are purposely made to be served quickly. The downfall to this, is the nutrition that is missed from from meals that are