Poll: Parents Have Mixed Opinions About the Quality of School Lunches

With the start of the new school years just weeks away, thoughts are turning to all phases of the education system and the quality of the school lunch programs is getting a lot of attention this year. With so much discussion about the obesity problem in the younger generation, parents are starting to take a closer look at what the school cafeterias have to offer.

The Gallup Organization has just released a new poll that asked the parents of school aged children across the country to give their opinion of the foods that are served in the cafeteria of the school that their oldest child attends.

When they asked the parents if they thought the school lunches were generally nutritious, almost 66% said they were, while 27% said that they were not that nutritious or not at all nutritious. However, from the 66% who said they were nutritious, only 21% said they were very nutritious.

There has been a lot of concern expressed because of the junk food and soda that are available to students from the school vending machines. There is also concern about the regular menu items being served, including some items from fast food establishment. These items please the students and therefor can mean more profit for the school.

There is no clear picture of what the parents think of the schools selling foods like this. It comes out to 43% saying that the schools offer too many foods that they find objectionable while 48% say they do not.

They did get a good response when they asked the parents if the school is doing enough to offer healthy foods like whole grain breads, fresh fruits, and vegetables. Actually, 66% said that the schools should be offering more is this type of food while 27% said they were offered enough and 8% said they had no opinion.

When it comes to how much responsibility the parents put on the schools for the increase in childhood obesity, 9% said school lunches matter a great deal, 22% say they matter a moderate amount, 37% say they do not matter that much , 30% say they do not matter at all and 25% say they have no opinion.

Healthy Foods equals Health Kids

Credit: Public Domain

Copyright: Public Domain