Title: Lunch Time: A look at the development of, and current controversies surrounding, school meal programs in the United States [redacted version] (2007 Third Year Paper)
Author(s): Jessica Strott
Subject & Subject keywords: Food and Drug Law "" "school lunch"
Abstract:This paper sets out to explore the development and original goals of school-time meal programs in the United States as well as the challenges and controversies facing those programs today. Part I of the paper reviews the history of school lunches from their introduction across Europe to their codification in the U.S. through the 1946 National School Lunch Act and the Child Nutrition Act of 1966. Part II of the paper focuses on nutrition issues, covering how the United Stated Department of Agriculture (USDA) sets nutrition guidelines, the influence of “competitive foods,” USDA’s enforcement of standards, and external influences on the USDA’s setting of nutrition guidelines. In Part III, the paper turns to the relationship between the childhood obesity epidemic and the national school lunch program. Finally, the paper concludes by evaluating the challenges that face the national school lunch program as it strives to provide nutritionally sound lunches in the future.