# Help on finding the exact nutritional facts for school lunches?



## ~Sarah~

I know US Foods is the number one supplier of school lunches, and while I pack my daughter a healthy lunch every day, she wants to be able to go through the cafeteria line once a week, and I can compromise on this. However, the menus I've been sent every week for what's being served seem to be blatantly disregarding the school's well-guided yet slightly militant rules on how healthy the packed lunches must be (I totally get "no chips and cookies and soda" but what they're touting as the "healthy cafeteria lunch" seems to be wildly packed with fat, salt, sugar and other chemical additives). I'm joining the PTA, and would really love a simple chart breakdown of how much fat, salt and sugar is *needed* by kids in different age-ranges, plus the limits of what make a diet of these foods unhealthy. And even more important, a chart showing the nutritional info on specifically what US Foods is feeding our kids would be best, as I can guess from databases of foods that are "similar" to those served in my school, I don't want to make a mistake and assume the same yogurt, for example, listed in the generic database is *actually* the one being served by US Foods. Even the USDA website makes it unclear, as there's no catch-all chart that shows limits on both sides, based on a child's diet needs by age. I would love to have this info going in, so I can make a calm yet informed case to maybe change some of the lunch offerings in the cafeteria (such as chocolate pudding, sugar-packed yogurt and chocolate or strawberry milk).

Thanks in advance!


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## Linda on the move

The only way to get the nutritional information for what is being served at your kids school is to talk to cafeteria staff. They have all that.

Most of the food served at the school where I work is prepared by the staff, and they take pride in serving fresh, yummy, hot meals that reflect the ethnicities of the school. 

People have pretty wildly different ideas about how much of a food's content needs to be "healthy" to count as healthy. All the items you listed are dairy, and most people feel that dairy is very healthy for children because of the calcium. 

A lot of the foods served in schools end up in the trash, and having watched a lot of spinach salad get thrown out, I understand why schools try to aim for a middle ground of "sorta healthy" but "stuff kids will still eat."


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## ~Sarah~

Linda on the move said:


> The only way to get the nutritional information for what is being served at your kids school is to talk to cafeteria staff. They have all that.
> 
> Most of the food served at the school where I work is prepared by the staff, and they take pride in serving fresh, yummy, hot meals that reflect the ethnicities of the school.
> 
> People have pretty wildly different ideas about how much of a food's content needs to be "healthy" to count as healthy. All the items you listed are dairy, and most people feel that dairy is very healthy for children because of the calcium.
> 
> A lot of the foods served in schools end up in the trash, and having watched a lot of spinach salad get thrown out, I understand why schools try to aim for a middle ground of "sorta healthy" but "stuff kids will still eat."


Soooo.....no chart from you to help me with. Thanks? I guess?


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## MeepyCat

When yous ay the lunches come from US Foods, are the lunches pre-made and supplied by US Foods, or is US Foods a supplier for the school, where cafeteria workers prepare food on-site? If US Foods is sending pre-made lunches, nutritional info should be available from them. If US Foods is basically selling the school groceries, it may be a bit harder to get exact nutritional info, as there probably is not a food scientist on staff in the cafeteria, and they probably do not test the nutritional content of what they serve to generate the information you're looking for on the food. 

It's been my experience that "healthy" in a school lunch means "we serve a meal containing foods from four food groups." My school district is doing that on less than a dollar per student per day, and a hefty proportion of their students might otherwise not have lunch at all, so I'm inclined to be sort of chill about the exact results. Would I cook like they do? No. But they're tackling a whole different set of problems than I deal with when I cook.

Depending where you are, the PTA may or may not have any leverage regarding school lunches. It's obnoxious that there's a set of standards for packed lunch that may not apply to lunches purchased at school, though, and you may be able to make headway on that. Don't expect to get a warm reception if you try to exclude chocolate milk.


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## ~Sarah~

MeepyCat said:


> When yous ay the lunches come from US Foods, are the lunches pre-made and supplied by US Foods, or is US Foods a supplier for the school, where cafeteria workers prepare food on-site? If US Foods is sending pre-made lunches, nutritional info should be available from them. If US Foods is basically selling the school groceries, it may be a bit harder to get exact nutritional info, as there probably is not a food scientist on staff in the cafeteria, and they probably do not test the nutritional content of what they serve to generate the information you're looking for on the food.
> 
> It's been my experience that "healthy" in a school lunch means "we serve a meal containing foods from four food groups." My school district is doing that on less than a dollar per student per day, and a hefty proportion of their students might otherwise not have lunch at all, so I'm inclined to be sort of chill about the exact results. Would I cook like they do? No. But they're tackling a whole different set of problems than I deal with when I cook.
> 
> Depending where you are, the PTA may or may not have any leverage regarding school lunches. It's obnoxious that there's a set of standards for packed lunch that may not apply to lunches purchased at school, though, and you may be able to make headway on that. Don't expect to get a warm reception if you try to exclude chocolate milk.


Ah, your reply makes much more sense now! I will check with the school to see whether they use whole-food from USF or pre-made ones; judging from the menu, they are mostly premade by USF. So that DOES help, in fact, and I thank you for the starting place to find the nutrition info! Thanks!

(As an aside: they don't want cheese or graham crackers sent with packed lunches, but what do I find on Friday's menu? Pepperoni pizza and graham crackers. Ugh) :frown:

One more aside: POTATOES DOE NOT COUNT AS A VEGETABLE OR GRAIN, PEOPLE! Geez. SMDH.


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## ~Sarah~

MeepyCat said:


> Don't expect to get a warm reception if you try to exclude chocolate milk.


And THIS: exactly. I don't understand why; is it a kickback they get? Is it to not hear the kids complain? When I was in school (the 80's) there was no choice of milk except 2% or whole. Chocolate milk was a Betty-Crocker-mom after-school treat. I mean jees......for lunch? Every single day? No wonder the amount of obese adults over the last 20 years has skyrocketed. Dang.


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## MeepyCat

~Sarah~ said:


> (As an aside: they don't want cheese or graham crackers sent with packed lunches, but what do I find on Friday's menu? Pepperoni pizza and graham crackers. Ugh) :frown:
> 
> One more aside: POTATOES DOE NOT COUNT AS A VEGETABLE OR GRAIN, PEOPLE! Geez. SMDH.


Ease up a little. I hear you on the cheese and graham crackers, but your anti-potato stance is kind of raising my eyebrows.

Potatoes are a great choice for cooking on an industrial scale. They are cheap, filling, and readily available throughout the year. They transport well. I have never heard of anyone having a potato allergy. It is fashionable to despise and avoid potatoes right now, but there isn't really anything wrong with them. Nutritionally, they are not all that distinct from bananas. Cooked potatoes retain a higher percentage RDA of vitamin C per serving than a fair number of canned vegetables do.

I went to school in the 80s too, and chocolate milk was an option at my school, every day. It was not a "Betty Crocker mom" thing after school. I preferred to build a solid-looking layer of Hershey's at the bottom of the milk glass myself.

In the 80s, school lunch was occasionally franks and beans with giant cubes of solid fat randomly floating in it. And fruit cocktail - remember that? Sugar syrup congealed around cubed pears, wan-looking pineapple, and a maraschino cherry that featured red dye no. 5 - was served pretty often. No one was shaking their head over potatoes,and very few sent out guidelines on what parents could pack their kids for school lunch. I can remember fourth grade classmates who showed up every day with a fluffernutter sandwich, Doritos, and Coke. Miraculously, these people are not, now, notably more likely to be obese than people like me, whose parents insisted on peanut butter with _jelly_, apples, a cookie or two, and a quarter for milk. Those two poles represented the standards in my community at the time. I would hesitate to pack my kids turkey on rye myself - it's going to sit in an unrefrigerated classroom for three hours before they eat it.

The causes of obesity are complex. The increasing expectation that children will be supervised by adults at all times has significantly reduced the amount of physical activity that many children get. Urban sprawl, and the absence of sidewalks in many suburbs further contribute to inactivity. The departure of high-paying, secure manufacturing jobs from cities in the U.S. has had a variety of consequences for public health. School lunch didn't cause obesity and can't cure it.


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## ~Sarah~

MeepyCat said:


> Ease up a little. I hear you on the cheese and graham crackers, but your anti-potato stance is kind of raising my eyebrows.
> 
> Potatoes are a great choice for cooking on an industrial scale. They are cheap, filling, and readily available throughout the year. They transport well. I have never heard of anyone having a potato allergy. It is fashionable to despise and avoid potatoes right now, but there isn't really anything wrong with them. Nutritionally, they are not all that distinct from bananas. Cooked potatoes retain a higher percentage RDA of vitamin C per serving than a fair number of canned vegetables do.
> 
> I went to school in the 80s too, and chocolate milk was an option at my school, every day. It was not a "Betty Crocker mom" thing after school. I preferred to build a solid-looking layer of Hershey's at the bottom of the milk glass myself.
> 
> In the 80s, school lunch was occasionally franks and beans with giant cubes of solid fat randomly floating in it. And fruit cocktail - remember that? Sugar syrup congealed around cubed pears, wan-looking pineapple, and a maraschino cherry that featured red dye no. 5 - was served pretty often. No one was shaking their head over potatoes,and very few sent out guidelines on what parents could pack their kids for school lunch. I can remember fourth grade classmates who showed up every day with a fluffernutter sandwich, Doritos, and Coke. Miraculously, these people are not, now, notably more likely to be obese than people like me, whose parents insisted on peanut butter with _jelly_, apples, a cookie or two, and a quarter for milk. Those two poles represented the standards in my community at the time. I would hesitate to pack my kids turkey on rye myself - it's going to sit in an unrefrigerated classroom for three hours before they eat it.
> 
> The causes of obesity are complex. The increasing expectation that children will be supervised by adults at all times has significantly reduced the amount of physical activity that many children get. Urban sprawl, and the absence of sidewalks in many suburbs further contribute to inactivity. The departure of high-paying, secure manufacturing jobs from cities in the U.S. has had a variety of consequences for public health. School lunch didn't cause obesity and can't cure it.


Right on; it's far too late for me to debate this. Thanks for the suggestion of looking on USFoods' website for nutrition info; otherwise, peace.


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