Soaring Food Costs Hit School Lunch Programs

[flashl]

Morning Edition, June 24, 2008 ·

In addition to home cooks and restaurant chefs, food prices are a growing problem for schools. And the fact that the school year is at an end isn't relieving concerns for a district in Massachusetts.

At Fairview Middle School in Chicopee, Mass., district food services director Joanne Lennon is already worried she won't be able to serve some of the same menu items in the fall.

"I'm concerned about my hamburger rolls next year," she says. "Pineapple, it's hard to find, and the price of that is astronomical, so I might have to ... not even buy pineapple next year."

Pineapple is just the start. All sorts of cafeteria staples, from bread to paper products, are rising in price. Lennon says she's been told to expect about an 8 percent jump in the cost of food for next year.

...

And while a certain amount of what cafeterias spend on each lunch is reimbursed by the federal government, Lennon says that reimbursement just isn't keeping pace with this year's inflation.

NPR

[Sabriel]

1. Add to that the incredible fuel costs for rural districts, and....

It's going to be bad next year.

[MountainLaurel]

2. And so many kids rely on those meals

For their only hot, comparatively healthy good of the day.

[DinahMoeHum]

3. I wonder if this school district knows about "Farm-to-School" programs

that are popping up everywhere.

http://www.farmtoschool.org/

At least they're cooking some of their food from scratch and not relying on "cook-chill" facilities.

:think:

[BonnieJW]

4. That is a fabulous organization!

It reminds me of The Edible Schoolyard, the brain child of Chef Alice Waters in California. I would bet that all kinds of problems with children (behavior, learning abilities), would be diminished or eliminated. You are what you eat. Who wants to be a Ding Dong?