It’s hard to find good news these days, but I thought I had stumbled on a nice feel-good story in the Portland Press Herald. It turns out a group of students at the King Middle School in Portland, Maine, has formed a team of “compost guardians,” who by coaxing their fellow students into sorting their uneaten lunch food into five reusable or recyclable categories have reduced the cafeteria’s daily waste production from 12 40-gallon trash bags to 2. (“Each year, Maine’s K-12 schools waste about 7 million pounds of food,” by Rachel Ohm, Portland Press Herald, Feb. 2, 2020). That seems like a heroic accomplishment and good news by any standard.
monkeybusinessimages/Getty Images
However, as I read on in the newspaper article it became clear that these students’ efforts represent a tiny speck of light in the middle of a very dark tunnel. In developing their system, the students learned that 34% of the food was not being consumed, which is part of the 30%-40% of food wasted across the country. In Maine, this represents about 7 million pounds of food wasted annually. Not surprisingly, the students found that 60% of the fruit and 28% of the vegetables go uneaten.
But current federal guidelines dictate that students must take a vegetable and a fruit on their trays. While well-intentioned, this is a mandate destined to generate waste.
King Middle School and many other schools around the country offer a program that is not in the federal guidelines: a “share table” where students can place unwanted (but safe to eat) food, and from which other students may serve themselves freely. On the surface, this may seem like a good idea because it legitimizes what children have been doing for years on their own. This shared food should consist of “healthy choices” because it is cafeteria fare dictated by the United States Department of Agriculture. But you know as well as I do that a child can become obese overeating a diet that in moderate amounts would be considered healthy. I suspect that many, if not most, students taking food from the share table don’t need any extra calories.
The USDA recently announced that it will be rolling out reforms for school and summer meal programs (USDA Release # USDA 0129.20). One of the goals of these reforms is to reduce food wastage by giving schools more flexibility in creating menus and offering more à la carte options. In the wake this rollout, there has been some concern voiced that schools will begin to offer less nutritional options. Unfortunately, this concern may be true in some districts, but it is pretty clear that the current guidelines are a significant contributor to food wastage without offering much of an upside. It may be time to lessen the record-keeping burden on local food services, and allow them some leeway in creating more appealing options while taking advantage of local food sources.
With or without the new guidelines, we are asking public schools to cater to multiple cohorts of students whose parents have put them on the bus in the morning as mismanaged picky eaters.
What would have worked at home could work at school. That strategy is to offer a child a balanced diet presented in an appealing manner in a pleasant setting. Also it is not allowing any sweetened beverages or milk in excess. Children may grumble temporarily but if the strategy is applied consistently, they will take it from there. That doesn’t mean that the children have to put the food on their trays if they don’t want it. But they shouldn’t be offered a second run through the cafeteria line or a chance to pick from the share table. Sadly, the success of this strategy relies on two shaky premises: That parents will begin to apply it at home and that school lunch programs will offer only healthy choices.
Dr. William G. Wilkoff
The bottom line is that schools can’t be expected to cure picky eaters who were enabled at home. On the other hand, it is not unreasonable to ask schools to play a role in curbing the national scourge of food wastage.
Dr. Wilkoff practiced primary care pediatrics in Brunswick, Maine for nearly 40 years. He has authored several books on behavioral pediatrics, including “Coping with a Picky Eater: A Guide for the Perplexed Parent.” Email him at pdnews@mdedge.com.