By: HuskyLover on 6/1/10
I wish all our county and city schools were on this program. The current menu for elementary students is awful with something highly processed and fried being served every day. The 'lunch ladies' need more detailed training and nutrition education as well. I had lunch with one of my kids earlier this year when they ran out of spaghetti noodles. The workers were plopping sauce (no noodles at all) on the trays of 6 year olds and calling it lunch. When I complained, a worker berated me saying that serving the sauce met the guidelines they had to follow. I pack my childrens' lunches each and every day now.

By: bbb123 on 6/1/10
MCS should end the ala cart items at the schools. These items include rice krispy treats, crystal light powder for water, ice cream, chips, & sugar filled "fruit" roll ups at the cost of 50¢ per item. The kids stock up on these before they hit the fruit/salad bar.

By: shotgun on 6/3/10
Nutrition, just like the education, should start at home! What they get at home, they want at schooL!!!

By: HuskyLover on 6/4/10
Sure it should start at home but many people in this country simply don't know how to eat properly. If they did, there wouldn't be an obesity epidemic. Kids know hamburgers, pizza and chicken nuggets because that's what the parents think are nutritious enough (they have protein & dairy, right?!?) and serve at home.

Many times school lunches serve corn as a vegetable side when it really is a starch and nutritionally doesn't count as a vegetable serving in accordance with the FDA food pyramid. Diced fruit in heavy syrup is offered as a fruit when it's laden with sugar. Salad is often offered but the only dressing choices are cream-based (ranch, blue cheese) and not a good option. Bread choices are made with enriched, bleached flour instead of whole grain. White bread is a simple carb that turns to sugar in the stomach.

It's absolutely disgusting and we have to educate this generation to make better food choices. It's obvious the majority can't handle nutritional training at home because the parents don't have the skills or tools, much like most parents aren't capable of teaching their kids calculus.

By: shotgun on 6/4/10
let's outlaw fast food....think of the gas we could save by not going to the drive up???? Fast food or convenience restaurants, hurt us in many other ways than just the weight problem.....check your local hamburger joint and look at the differences in the prices of their combo meals.....almost nothing is freshly cooked....many of them ignore the health inspection reports on the wall(Reference hair restraints).....

By: bbb123 on 6/6/10
I agree nutrition should start at home but when given a choice between fruit/vegetables and "junk food"/soda/snack machines, 99% of the time, no matter what they are taught at home, the junk food/sodas will win with the children. Why not make it easy for the children and pull the ala cart junk food and the soda and snack machines? It doesnt matter how many fruit/salad bars are offered, if all the junk food is presented (especially in the line before the student reaches the veggies/fruit choices) it will always win with the kids!