Terrell D. Winters
Professor Jeffrey Kersh
ENG 215
September 12, 2013
The Problem There is a problem with the public school food system nutrition and it is promoting childhood obesity. The growing problem for childhood obesity is steadily climbing at a rapid rate with the help of poor nutrition from food served from public school cafeterias. The quality of school meals has been hotly debated for years because of that no one has stepped in to help this problem. If I was a parent, I would suggest that parents prepare decent meals for their kids and limit the junk food usage. However, this only my opinion about how I feel about public school nutrition, but I will get more in-depth with this issue later in this research.
The History Poor nutrition has been a problem for years in the public school system and contributing to childhood obesity. Before childhood obesity became an issue and what kind of nutrition a child was receiving from outside the home, people would come home from school/work to have lunch with their family. However, the concept of cafeteria school lunch choice did not exist in the early years (1930-1960). While time continued to move forward, the ideal of installing vending machines begin to emerge in a few public schools. Cafeteria’s today lean more towards federal nutritional recommendations, regional culinary preferences, and portion sizes to cut down on food cost for that particular school district. The question often comes up “how health is cafeteria food in public schools?” There are numerous factors that points to the fact there is unhealthy eating in school. However when the food is prepared, the cafeteria has a large crowd to feed, therefore; nutrition is their least worries. I think that the school system wouldn’t spend the extra money on better nutrition foods for the students. In recent survey, taste cost and convenience were the main factors in why students choose to eat this unhealthy food.
References: “Cafeteria Food and Disadvantages”. Retrieved on September 09, 2013 from: Http// livest rong .com/article/460727 “School Nutrition”. Retrieved on July 23, 2013 from: Http//www.yourlife.usatoday.com_ 2012 Michelle Obama announces New Nutrition Standards for Schools, by Nicole M. Middelton, World Scene Writer on Jan 29, 2012;