Students Succeed with School Meals
Things that families, teachers and principals might ask…
Q. What is a successful student?
A. The guiding mission of the North Carolina State Board of Education is that every public school student will graduate from high school, globally competitive for work and postsecondary education and prepared for life in the 21st Century. For North Carolina parents, student success includes happiness, involvement in extracurricular activities, good nutrition, sleeping well, focus, doing one’s best, balance, well-roundedness, self confidence and independence.
Q. What is the connection between eating smart and learning?
A. When a student eats a nutritious breakfast and lunch, he or she is ready to learn. Distracting symptoms like headache and stomachache are eliminated and attention can be focused on important classroom activities.
Q. How does the Child Nutrition Program contribute to student success?
A. The Child Nutrition Program, also known as School Meals, is an important part of the educational day. Healthy school meals can play a role in student success and allow students to perform their best. The primary purpose of the program is to safeguard the health and well being of the nation’s children. Child nutrition programs provide a wholesome breakfast, lunch and after-school snack for many of North Carolina’s 1.3 million students.
Q. What are the priorities the Child Nutrition Program must balance?
A. Child Nutrition Programs balance many priorities. These include: nutrition standards; reporting requirements; cultural diversity of students; perceptions of school meals; appealing choices; commercial influences; affordable meals; student preferences; food safety; health-related concerns; rising food and labor costs; labor shortages; and out-dated kitchens and equipment.
Q. How is the Child Nutrition Program funded?
A. Child Nutrition (CN) Programs, operating on a non-profit basis, receive federal funds from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) as reimbursement for the service of meals meeting specific meal patterns. In addition, local CN programs must generate revenue to pay for food, supplies, equipment, indirect costs and salaries. North Carolina is one of the few states in the country that provides no state funding for Child Nutrition Programs.
Q. Where do schools get food?
A. Schools get food from two primary sources: purchases from commercial food distributors and donated foods from the USDA Commodity Foods Program.
Q. What is the USDA Commodity Foods Program?
A. The Food Distribution Division of USDA’s Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) coordinates the distribution of commodities to more than 94,000 public and private nonprofit schools that provide meals to students. These programs support American agricultural producers by providing cash reimbursements for meals served in schools and other child nutrition institutions.
Q. How healthy are USDA commodity foods?
A. The USDA has reduced the fat, sodium and added sugar in commodity foods. For example, ground beef has 15% fat, compared to an average 30% fat content in fast-food ground beef. Canned fruits have light syrup and fruit juices instead of heavy syrup. The program offers a wide variety of fresh, frozen and canned fruits and vegetables.
Q. How safe are school meals?
A. Very safe. School nutrition professionals have rigorous training in food safety. School kitchens are subject to two health inspections each year conducted by the local health department. And according the Food and Drug Administration, school kitchens are among the safest of commercial and institutional
foodservice establishments.
Q. Are USDA commodities as safe as commercial products?
A. Food safety and security is an important aspect of the USDA nutrition assistance programs. The FNS Food Safety Unit coordinates food safety and security efforts for all its programs including the USDA Commodity Foods Program.
Q. How healthy is it for my child to eat school meals?
A. Research shows that students who eat school lunch eat less fat than students who bring their lunch from home. Students who eat school lunch eat more fruits, vegetables and drink more milk. They are less likely to drink soda and fruit drinks. Furthermore, students who eat school meals are more likely to be at a healthy weight.
Q. Are there any specific foods that cannot be included with school meals?
A. Federal standards do not allow foods of minimal nutritional value to be sold. These include soda water (soda pop), water ices, chewing gum, hard candy, jellies and gums, marshmallow candies, fondant, licorice, spun candy and candy-coated popcorn, confections and carbonated drinks.
Q. What are the food and drink options available in school?
A. Actual menu options are determined by the menu planners in each school system. Depending on the menu planning option chosen, students will have available to them a variety of foods each day. To achieve a healthier school environment, the NC Department of Public Instruction recommends additional limitations for all beverages available on campus at all grade levels during the school day to the following items: milk containing 1% or less fat (flavored or unflavored); bottled water; bottled flavored water; beverages with 50% or more fruit juice; beverages with no more than 20 calories per serving; diet carbonated beverages may not be sold during breakfast and lunch periods; and isotonic sports beverages or caloric equivalent are only available at high schools. These recommendations apply to all areas throughout the school campus. This includes the Child Nutrition Program, school vending, school stores and other venues where beverages are available to students. These recommendations do not apply to areas on campus where students are not permitted, such as the teacher’s lounge; to evening or weekend events such as athletic events; or to other school functions outside the instructional day.
Q. Why are school meals the healthy, low-cost choice?
A. School meals are the healthy choice because they meet the Dietary Guidelines for Americans. They are the low-cost choice because the Child Nutrition Programs receive USDA-reimbursement for a portion of the cost of meals, receive and use commodity foods, and do not make a profit.
Q. How is the price for school meals determined?
A. Local school boards set the prices for school meals. The price covers a complete, reimbursable breakfast or lunch. USDA partially reimburses schools for meals served to students. USDA reimbursement varies for full-price, reduced-price and free meals.
Q. Why are there different prices for adult and student meals?
A. Schools do not receive USDA reimbursement for adult meals. Therefore, the cost set for adult meals must cover the complete cost of the meal.
Q. What are reimbursable meals?
A. USDA reimburses schools for meals that meet specific meal patterns and nutrition guidelines. USDA nutrition guidelines are consistent with the Dietary Guidelines for Americans. School systems have different options for developing menus with reimbursable meals. Each meal will be some combination of a meat/meat alternate, bread/grain, fruit/vegetable and milk. For example, lunch could include spaghetti with meat sauce, canned peaches, salad and milk. Breakfast could include cereal, toast and milk.
Q. Does my child have choices?
A. Schools plan menus to offer a variety of choices within a food category to try to appeal to different tastes. Therefore, you may see several fruit and vegetable choices, or two entrée choices, for students to select what they like. If the school does not have the Offer versus Serve option, students are required to select one item from each of the food categories.
Q. What is Offer versus Serve?
A. Offer versus Serve (OVS) is intended to reduce food waste and allow students to select foods they prefer and to decline some foods offered in a school lunch or breakfast. Depending on the menu planning option used in the school, there are a set number of food components offered. Students are required to select a certain minimum number of the components. And depending on the menu planning option used, specific components or menu items must be chosen by the student. They can then decline the remaining components. The number of components that is offered and the number that is required will vary. OVS is optional in elementary schools for lunch and breakfast.
Q. Why are there à la carte foods in addition to school meals?
A. Child Nutrition Programs must generate revenue to pay for food, supplies, equipment, indirect costs and salaries. The USDA reimbursement is only a supplemental payment, which does not cover the entire operating costs of the program. Therefore, some NC school systems sell à la carte foods and drinks in addition to school meals. There is no USDA reimbursement for à la carte items and there are limited items in elementary schools.
Q. What are à la carte foods and drinks?
A. À la carte foods and drinks are anything sold separately from the reimbursable school meal. À la carte items can be a carton of low-fat milk, a second entrée, or a cookie, for example. When students select à la carte items in addition to the reimbursable school meal, there is an additional charge. Schools do not receive reimbursement from the USDA for the sales of à la carte foods and drinks, and a la carte sales are not included in free and reduced price pricing of foods. Students who receive free or reduced price meals must pay full price for à la carte items purchased.
Q. What other food options are in schools?
A. In addition to schools meals, students may have access to foods/beverages in school stores, through fundraisers or other sources. These foods are not offered as part of the Child Nutrition Program. These foods are called competitive foods. Competitive foods are those foods/beverages sold or offered to students in competition with school meals. If the sale or availability of foods/beverages competes with a student’s ability and/or willingness to receive or purchase a school meal, it competes. Federal regulations require that any revenue generated from the sale of competitive foods must be returned to the Child Nutrition Program.
Q. What about vending machines in elementary schools?
A. No beverage or snack vending is allowed in elementary schools. There are specific NC General Statutes governing the sale of items in vending machines. GS 115C-264.2 speaks specifically to vending machine sales.
Q. Have school meals changed?
A. School meals have improved over the past few years. Today, kids are offered healthy, tasty and appealing choices such as fresh fruits and vegetables, whole grains and low-fat milk. For example, schools serve pizza with whole-wheat crust and low-fat cheese, and baked chicken rather than fried.
Q. How are North Carolina Child Nutrition Programs providing healthier options for students?
A. A Department of Public Instruction (DPI) review of North Carolina schools showed that schools are providing healthier options.
- 96 percent have increased fresh fruit
- 86 percent have increased fresh vegetables
- 73 percent have increased whole grains
- 76 percent have eliminated fried foods
- 92 percent have eliminated whole milk
- 87 percent have decreased desserts
- 88 percent are gradually decreasing high-fat or high-sugar à la carte foods and drinks
Q. What has happened as a result of these improvements?
A. NC school children are accepting the healthier choices. The downside is Child Nutrition Programs pay more for some of the healthier foods. Some of the foods require more labor to prepare. And, some of the healthier foods available in grocery stores are not available to Child Nutrition. Therefore, Child Nutrition Programs have seen a decrease in revenue.
Q. Why are these changes being made?
A. Nationally, there are nearly twice as many overweight children and almost three times as many overweight adolescents today as there were in 1980. In North Carolina, we see an even greater percent of children and adolescents who are overweight. For 2- to 4-year olds, 14.5 percent are overweight. About one in four (24.5 percent) of 5- to 11-year olds is overweight and for 12- to 18-year olds, almost a third (27.3 percent) is overweight.
Q. Are school meals contributing to the problem of overweight children in North Carolina?
A. No. There are many factors causing the problem of overweight and obese children in our state. Of all the factors, there are several that seem to have the biggest impact: lack of physical activity; too much TV; too many soft drinks; out-of-control portion sizes; too many meals away from home; and not enough fruits and vegetables. School meals provide an opportunity to address some of these problems. Soft drinks are not allowed in elementary schools, portion sizes are the right size for children and there are plenty of fruits and vegetables.
Q. My child is not overweight. Why can’t my child have whatever he or she likes to eat?
A. Healthier school meals benefit all students. Research has shown that healthier students who eat balanced meals and engage in regular physical activity are more alert in the classroom, have fewer behavior problems and fewer absences. These students also have increased test scores. Learning to make the healthy food choices contributes to student success. The cafeteria is just like any other part of the school. It is a place where students should learn through their daily food choices how to make the healthiest choices. It is just like learning to read, to write and to do math.
Q. What is a local wellness policy?
A. According to the Child Nutrition Reauthorization Act of 2004, all local education agencies (LEAs) that participate in the National School Lunch Program were required to develop a local wellness policy to address specific nutrition and physical activity needs no later than June 30, 2006. The policy must include the following components: goals for nutrition education, physical activity, and other school-based activities that promote wellness; nutrition guidelines for all food available on campus during the school day; guidelines for reimbursable meals; a plan for measuring and implementing the policy, including designation of one or more persons within the LEA to assess implementation; and community involvement in development of the wellness policy.
Developed by the N.C. Division of Public Health with funding from Child Nutrition Services, N.C. Department of Public Instruction
In accordance with federal civil rights law and U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) civil rights regulations and policies, this institution is prohibited from discriminating on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex (including gender identity and sexual orientation), disability, age, or reprisal or retaliation for prior civil rights activity.
Program information may be made available in languages other than English. Persons with disabilities who require alternative means of communication to obtain program information (e.g., Braille, large print, audiotape, American Sign Language), should contact the responsible state or local agency that administers the program or USDA’s TARGET Center at (202) 720-2600 (voice and TTY) or contact USDA through the Federal Relay Service at (800) 877-8339.
To file a program discrimination complaint, a Complainant should complete a Form AD-3027, USDA Program Discrimination Complaint Form which can be obtained online at: https://www.usda.gov/sites/default/files/documents/USDA-OASCR%20P-Complaint-Form-0508-0002-508-11-28-17Fax2Mail.pdf, from any USDA office, by calling (866) 632-9992, or by writing a letter addressed to USDA. The letter must contain the complainant’s name, address, telephone number, and a written description of the alleged discriminatory action in sufficient detail to inform the Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights (ASCR) about the nature and date of an alleged civil rights violation. The completed AD-3027 form or letter must be submitted to USDA by:
- mail:
U.S. Department of Agriculture
Office of the Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights
1400 Independence Avenue, SW
Washington, D.C. 20250-9410; or - fax:
(833) 256-1665 or (202) 690-7442; or - email:
program.intake@usda.gov
This institution is an equal opportunity provider.