Organic School Food

The kids at Lincoln Elementary, in Olympia, Washington State, are trading their chicken nuggets and cheeseburgers for organic lettuce, pita pockets and blueberries, under a new policy passed by the Seattle School District banning junk food in the schools and encouraging organic food in school cafeterias.

The biggest hurdle has been the cost, since the organic food generally costs more, and the schools are struggling to pay for books and teachers. The secret has been to eliminate dessert, allowing Lincoln Elementary to cut its lunch costs by 2 cents per meal, while offering a full organic menu.

The response from parents and students has been great, aided by alarm bells about obesity: The latest US government statistics show that 31% of kids aged 6 to 19 are overweight, and 16% are obese. Junk food vending machines are going, too. Stonyfield Farm now stocks school vending machines with healthy foods, organic fruit leather, and soy milk.

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This news item was quoted from the October 2004 issue of the EcoNews newsletter:
http://www.earthfuture.com/econews/