Forget what Michelle Obama has to say about nutrition -- we're going back to the old ways. This is what two more school districts in New York recently decided after witnessing major financial losses and starving students who simply can't stomach the First Dictator's obtuse guidelines for "healthy" school lunches, the latest in a growing movement of resistance against the oppressive new food guidelines.
The school districts of Fayetteville-Manlius and Baldwinsville both scrapped the infamous "Head Start" program due to massive increases in food waste, food costs and students simply not eating the food. Reports indicate that many schools have been suffering financially because students are no longer purchasing lunches, which means that schools are not only having to foot the costs for more expensive food but also eat the losses when the food goes to waste.
"Grilled cheese and tomato soup was a very popular lunch... [but we] couldn't offer that under the new guidelines of the federal government," stated Baldwinsville Superintendent David Hamilton to WRVO Public Media. "Spaghetti and meatballs, we couldn't offer that either."
Lunch sales drop 40 percent due to Head Start rules
In Baldwinsville, lunch sales at the local high school dropped from about 600 students per day to only about 430 students per day. This represents a 28 percent reduction that, like at other schools in the area, is causing major fiscal problems.
A survey conducted by the School Nutrition Association found that about 25 percent of school lunch programs throughout the country have been losing money for at least the past six months as a result of the Head Start program. When asked about why they aren't buying the new lunches, most students indicated that the portions are too small, and the food distasteful.
"We all want a lower carb diet. But it's hard to sell a sub on something that looks more like a piece of paper than a sub roll," added Hamilton. "I understand the shift but now the students aren't opting to eat any of that. They're stepping away entirely."
One million students are starving daily because of new lunch guidelines
What was branded as a program to help reduce childhood obesity is actually turning out to be a major cause of eating disorders for many students. According to statistics released by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), as many as 1 million students per day are not buying lunch at school, with many of them not eating anything at all.
To go along with this, a Government Accountability Institute report found that schools are having to toss about $1 billion worth of food annually as a result of students not eating it. This is a major problem, as school lunch programs were originally designed to be self-supporting, meaning they are not funded by the school district's general fund.
"The challenge has been in maintaining student participation along with managing the rising costs associated with the new regs," stated Lori Adkins, the child nutrition consultant at the Oakland school district in Michigan, to The Detroit News. "[I]t's vital for program revenues to meet or exceed expenses annually for a program to remain fiscally sustainable."
Not surprisingly, the only students still eating lunch at school appear to be those receiving it at a reduced cost or for free. This has created a two-tier, hierarchical food system where the poor are stuck eating Michelle Obama's rations, while the rich are eating normal food in appropriate quantities brought from home.
