Tacoma's School Food, How it Works: Tasty Fruits and Veggies and Stupid Federal Policies

In my zeal to get people to sign the Healthier School Lunch petition, I feel like we're missing some background on what's going on in Tacoma's school cafeterias.

Not all of my readers are parents, and many are parents of preschool-aged kids. For those of you who aren't familiar with how school meals work around here, the outlook is not 100% dire. There are a few things the district is doing right, really well as a matter of fact:

• Children are offered (or should be offered, it may vary from school to school, but this is the policy) at least two fruits and vegetables with every lunch and at least half of these are fresh.
• The vast majority of our schools have functional kitchens, meaning more food preparation can happen without a tremendous investment in new equipment
• Districts are encouraged to purchase locally grown fruits and vegetables and Food Services of America (our local food supplier) purchases a somewhat lengthy list of produce from Washington farms. (Much of this consists of various types of potatoes, but then that's a common crop here.)
• The district has committed to improving food services information on their website, including nutrition facts for some foods.

...but there are some things that could use improvement....

• Staff, students and parents are confused about meal program policies, for example,
  • students have been told that if they bring a bottle of water it qualifies as a lunch from home, either they can't have it or they can't buy lunch. This is not district policy.
  • students and parents have been told that children must take a milk (even if they are lactose intolerant) and throw it away if they can't drink it. This is also not the actual policy. Students must be offered milk but don't actually have to take one.
  • most parents aren't aware that they can request special meals for children with medically verifiable allergies and intolerances

  then there are the real and seemingly irrational federal policies like....

  • In the summer food program (which is a USDA program, with food supplied by the district) children must consume their entire meal on site in view of program staff, any remaining food must be thrown away. Although technically a child could leave her lunch in the eating area and come back to it, in practice kids throw away a tremendous amount of food (usually the fruits and vegetables) which they might munch on if they could keep it with them all day. This is a USDA policy and is not under the city's control. It's also really dumb and wasteful. The theory behind it is that the USDA wants to be sure no food ends up in undeserving (over 18 year old) hands, therefore it is better to throw it away. We simply cannot have unauthorized carrots and ranch dressing floating around our cities, this is a sure path to anarchy.
  • The USDA has decreed that there is no substitute for cow's milk. Even for children who can't digest it.

...and then there are the things that need changing, now....

• The program absolutely has to break even. Our district (like many others around the country) has fallen into the trap if thinking this means everything must be geared toward "what kids want," and that "what kids want" is food that looks and tastes like fast food, 180 days a year.
• The burgers, corn dogs, breakfast fruit pies, and pizza are justified by the presence of slightly healthier than average ingredients, carefully designed to be invisible to the children, and everything is baked in convection ovens rather than fried. This is a nutritional improvement over standard fast food, but sends a terrible message to kids about what they should eat on a daily basis. A "fruit turnover" (which looks for all the world like a gas station fruit pie) is an acceptable breakfast because it is sweetened with real fruit juice, and thickened with "real corn starch" etc.
• Convenience items like "Uncrustables" with ingredient lists several paragraphs long (including high fructose corn syrup) have replaced simple, inexpensive and quick to prepare foods like peanut butter and jelly and grilled cheese. Pizza pockets appear on the breakfast menu more often than cereal.
• "Real food" when it is served can be unappetizing and almost unrecognizable. Pasta is overcooked beyond recognition, caked with sauce and served with an ice cream scoop. Turkey is chopped and canned and served in a gravy soup, over a scoop of powdered mashed potatoes. Unsurprisingly, lunch is not popular on these days. To make up for it, a "birthday cupcake" (a Little Debbie like snack item) is traditionally served as dessert. The kids throw away their entrée and eat the cupcake, or opt for the optional sugar-filled "Uncrustable" (with cupcake on the side).
• District policies (such as no more than 30% of calories should come from fat) and menus are laxly enforced. In one school, donuts are served for breakfast. In another, the salad on the menu is not put out for younger children because it is "too messy." Kids are sent out on field trips with a school-provided sack lunch consisting of an Uncrustable, a bag of potato chips, and a cupcake - accompanied by chocolate milk.
• Meat (which is served at virtually every meal) is almost always highly processed, breaded, and unrecognizable.

A 2006 Tacoma-Pierce County Healthy Youth Survey found that 26% of our 10th graders are considered overweight or obese, the highest rate in Washington State. Kids learn from our actions as well as our words, and when the schools place nuggets and patties and hot dogs in front of our students day after day, they are teaching them that this is a normal way to eat. As my 9 year old put it, "Why would the school give us something that isn't good for us?"

In school districts around the country, moms, dads, and concerned tax payers are waging a not-so quiet revolution against the state of the nation's school lunches. Tacoma took a big step by signing on early to work with ACHIEVE Healthy Communities. Let's not waste that opportunity (and the funding that comes with it) sign the petition now!