School lunch guidelines passed in 2012 called for students to be required to choose a fruit or vegetable and to increase the portion size of these items.
In the past "food service directors, teachers, parents, and students "have objected to the new guidelines, suggesting forcing fruits and vegetables on students would increase food waste, an Elsevier news release reported.
Researchers looked at food waste in two low-income urban schools in Massachusetts both before and after the USDA recommendations were implemented.
The researchers found the new guidelines did not increase food waste, but rather the amount of discarded food remained relatively the same. The team also found the new standards led to an increase in fruit and vegetable consumption; it also prompted students to eat more of their main entrée.
After the guidelines were put into place the amount of students who selected fruit jumped from 52.7 percent to 75.7 percent; the number of students who chose vegetables went from 24.9 percent to 41.1 percent.
"Many low-income students rely on school meals for up to half of their daily energy intake," lead investigator Juliana F.W. Cohen, ScM, ScD, Department of Nutrition, Harvard School of Public Health, said in the news release. "Therefore, school meals can have important implications for student health. Increased consumption of healthier foods during the school day may result in the displacement of energy-dense, nutrient-poor foods that many students are exposed to after leaving school grounds."
While there was no evidence that the new school lunch guidelines increased waste, it also did not improve the problem. Students as a whole usually throw away between 60 and 75 percent of the vegetables and 50 percent of the fruit they are served.
"While the new standards make important changes by requiring reimbursable school meals to have increased quantities of fruits and vegetables and more vegetable variety, this may not be sufficient," Dr. Cohen said. "Schools must also focus on the quality and palatability of the fruits and vegetables offered and on creative methods to engage students to taste and participate in selection of menu items to decrease overall waste levels."
