National School Lunch Act

What is the National School Lunch Act, how did it change lunches, and what happened afterwards?

First 2 Facts

• The National School Lunch Program was established under the National School Lunch Act, signed by President Harry Truman in 1946.
• The goal of the National School Lunch Act was to "safeguard the health and well-being of the nation's children." It also provides low-costing or free meals to those who are hungry and poor.

President Harry S. Truman

Next 2 Facts

• The program provides nutritionally balanced, low-cost, or free lunches to children each day.
• Some of the meals include~ whole milk, meat, cheese, cooked or canned fish, dry peas or soy beans, peanut butter, eggs, vegetables & fruits, bread and butter.

Food that could come with the meal

Next 2 Facts

• When junk food companies started selling in schools, children would choose that over the healthier options.
• When the USDA blocked foods of minimal nutritional value, the National Soft Drink Association fought to sell junk food at schools again. When they won, the NSLP became even more unpopular.

More Facts

• Today, 43% of Elementary schools, 74% of Middle schools, and 98% of High schools have vending machines.
• Jade Alexander chooses to eat unhealthy (chips for breakfast, fast food for lunch) instead of eating some of the healthy options at the school.

This is crazy to you and me...... but people eat meals like this.

Last 2 Facts

• While people used to not get food to eat in New York City, now 25% of children are obese.
• In the city that created America's first school lunch program because poor kids were too hungry, many now have too much to eat.

Younger kids are targeted. That's why more children are overweight.

Conclusion~The National School Lunch Act is important because it helped kids in need of food when they had no money. It helped to keep children healthy.

Bibliography

• “National School Lunch Program (NSLP).” Food and Nutrition Service, United States Department of Agriculture, 14 Dec. 2017, www.fns.usda.gov/nslp/national-school-lunch-program-nslp.
• Schlosser, Eric, and Charles Wilson. Chew on This: Everything You Don't Want to Know about Fast Food. Houghton Mifflin, 2017.

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