Listen to students to improve lunch menu
The lunch at ETHS is lackluster.
With no student input, the cafeteria food has plenty of room for improvement.
The United States Department of Agriculture has recently put into effect new nutrition requirements for schools that are part of the National School Lunch and School Breakfast Programs. These requirements have greatly changed what’s available
to students on the lunch menu this year. After years of candy and sugary drinks being the highlight of cafeteria food, it is now time for the food made by the ETHS Nutrition Services Department to command the food scene.
The federal requirements state that a school can only serve items that are in a very specific range of calories, and below set fat and sodium limits. Any foods that don’t meet the requirements cannot be served, whether in vending machines or by the lunch staff, until half an hour after school ends.
However, this policy is only enforced for students who are on free or reduced lunch. Students who aren’t on either of these programs aren’t held by the same standards.
The best way to give all students an incentive to order the school-made food would be to have options the students are interested in. With the current program in place, that seems impossible.
Luckily, this problem has a very simple solution. ETHS must have some system of student feedback which they could use to increase the quality of their food.
We must act soon to switch the method of serving lunch. Eating at school should be more than just lackluster, and the time to change is now.
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Jaco Chandra • Sep 29, 2014 at 6:35 pm
I understand the notion that some students may abuse candy/sugary drinks and make unhealthy choices. However, students are not going to live under restrictions forever. The overwhelming restrictions on cafeteria food only makes it so students will eat unhealthy later. Let students make decisions on what they want to eat; it’s better that we are able to engage in this independence now in ordered to prepare ourselves for the future where there are no restrictions on food.
P.S: This policy isn’t just enforced for students on free/reduced lunch. I’m not on either and I can’t purchase many of the items that were available to me last year because they simply are not there anymore. This change in menu has certainly evoked a negative light on the cafeteria.