Food Prices Budge Into The Healthy Food Lunch Line

Remember how all over the country schools were embracing healthier foods in an attempt to keep kids well behaved, svelte and cavity-free? Well, that was before food prices shot through the roof. [Washington Post]

The Washington Post reports that “the cost of milk, grain and fresh fruits and vegetables are hitting cafeterias across the country, forcing cash-strapped schools to raise prices or pinch pennies by serving more economical dishes.”

The result: “It’s becoming harder to fill students’ plates with healthy, low-fat foods.”

Some examples from across the country:

• Montgomery County, Maryland: “Tomato slices were pulled for a few weeks from cafeteria salads in favor of less-expensive carrots or celery.”
• New York, New York: After watching milk prices rise $3 million last year, New York schools cut back on veggies (Eric Goldstein, chief executive for school support services: “vegetable medley will be less of a medley.")
• Davie County, North Carolina: “Yoo-hoo drinks, which had been taken off the shelf in favor of healthier options, are back. Sure, officials would rather the kids chugged milk. But each Yoo-hoo sale brings in 36 cents of profit.”

Part of the problem is stingy federal school lunch subsidies that don’t match rising prices, and tend to subsidize unhealthy foods stuffed with corn syrup, white flour and meat.

“We do not want to serve our students highly refined sugar and flour products, which are more affordable,” Penny Parham, administrative director of Florida’s Miami-Dade County school system, told the House Education and Labor Committee, “but we are continually being pushed down this path.”

More fruits and veggies, please.

Related Stories

• Biden Echoes President’s Calls for Accessible, Affordable Education
• MTV Puts College Affordability at the Tips of Our Fingers
• There’s a Growing Consensus in Support of Community College and Industry Partnerships
• VIDEOS: Obama Addresses Higher Education, Student Loans During Google+ Hangout
• White House, Campus Progress to Host Twitter Q&A on Youth Issues