British chef and natural foods activist Jamie Oliver, in his crusade against fatty, processed foods in schools, is having a hard time getting his food in a few school districts. According to a report in the New York Times, investigative reporter Lucy Komisar contends that children’s school meals are being driven away from anything healthier by the food supply and processing companies in the name of profit.
Komisar says “an increasingly cozy alliance between companies that manufacture processed foods and the companies that serve the meals is making students—a captive market—fat and sick, while pulling in hundreds of millions of dollars in profits.”
Thanks to the federal school lunch program, the Department of Agriculture buys agriculture surpluses, like fruits and vegetables, chickens, and turkeys, which then schools get for free. While some schools prepare meals themselves, Komisar says, more and more districts pay processors to turn fresh chicken into breaded and fried chicken nuggets.
About 25% of the school nutrition program—serving 32 million children at participating schools—has been outsourced to companies like Sodexo, Aramark and Chartwell. These companies work together with food manufacturers like Tyson, “all of which profit when good food is turned to bad.”
Not only that—many school systems would rather turn their kitchens over than manage the program. And management companies cut costs by not having to pay skilled kitchen workers. There are other practices—like rebating—that come into play. The Department of Agriculture doesn’t track spending to process the food, but has started to crack down on the “rebate” practice, which echoes of a kickback. The bottom line seems to be that giving kids healthy food is a low priority.
You can read Komisar’s entire report, "How the Food Industry Eats Your Kid’s Lunch” here.
Additional ISM articles of interest
Private School News Vol. 10 No. 7 Healthier School Lunches
Private School News Vol. 9 No. 1 New Statistics on Childhood Obesity
Private School News Vol. 9 No. 3 5 Reasons Why Processed Foods Make Us Sick
Additional ISM articles of interest for Consortium Members
I&P Vol. 29 No. 6 Food Services for Day Schools: Mission and Planning
