School Lunch News: Kids Are Tossing Out Their Fruits & Vegetables, Confirms New Study

A recent study published online in the Public Health Reports has shown that even though kids are choosing to put fruits and vegetables on their plates during school lunchtime because of a healthy diet mandate, they still choose not to eat them. Instead, they put them in the trash.

The Washington Post reports that the mandate, championed by the first lady Michelle Obama, has been highly controversial. Some said that picky eaters in school would just throw away the unwanted food, but those in favor said that kids should be given more credit and that they would make the right choice with some nudging.

HealthDay reports that after the mandate was introduced in 2012, which required fruits and vegetables to be included in school lunches, the amount of fruits and veggies thrown out rose by 35 percent. Not only that, since the law was passed, the amount of vegetables and fruits consumed by kids actually dropped.

Researcher Sarah Amin, Ph.D., of the Nutrition and Food Sciences at the University of Vermont said to EurekAlert!, "The basic question we wanted to explore was: does requiring a child to select a fruit or vegetable actually correspond with consumption."

For the study, researchers visited two elementary schools that had 40 to 60 percent of children qualifying for free or reduced meals. They visited the schools before and after the law was implemented, documenting almost 1,500 tray observations from 2012 to 2013. The researchers evaluated the gathered data by using validated means that include (but not limited to) taking pictures of before and after meals.

Results have shown that children, as forced by the mandate, did put more fruits and vegetables on their plate shortly after the law was implemented, but fewer ate them, and more children tossed them to the garbage bins. 

"The answer was clearly no," researcher Amin said. "It was heartbreaking to see so many students toss fruits like apples into the trash right after exiting the lunch line."

Researchers also found out that kids prefer consuming fruits and veggies when they're in processed form such as tomato sauce on a pizza and 100 percent fruit juice. They suggest preparing and presenting the food in a better, more appealing way, such as cutting vegetables and serving them with dip or serving sliced apples instead of the whole fruit.

Although the study was limited to only two schools, the findings provide important data that the Congress can use in their decision whether to reauthorize the Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010, which provides funding for the USDA's child nutrition programs.

"An important message is that guidelines need to be supplemented with other strategies to enrich fruit and vegetable consumption," Amin said. "We can't give up hope yet."