Authored by Michelle Standlee via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),
A few decades ago, many U.S. school cafeterias prepared meals from scratch for hundreds of students each day. As years passed, some kitchen staff watched fresh ingredients like flour and eggs disappear, replaced by boxes of pre-packaged, processed foods.
“We do have a lot of fresh diced cucumber, pineapple, cantaloupe, honeydew, kiwi, and the kids enjoy it. But most of our lunches are heat and serve. Very rarely do we have made-by-scratch foods,” Verna Wow-Wright, a California-based school nutrition assistant, told The Epoch Times. The shift, driven by cost, convenience, and food safety regulations, changed how millions of American children eat at school.
Meanwhile, countries like Japan, Sweden, and France continue to prioritize fresh, minimally processed meals—an approach that some experts say contributes to lower childhood obesity rates and better long-term health.
As diet-related illnesses among U.S. children rise, could a closer look at global school meal programs offer insights into improving nutrition for American students?
A Comparison of US School Lunches With Other Countries
While lunches in many U.S. schools rely on processed and pre-packaged foods, other nations prioritize fresh, whole food-based meals.
A 2021 JAMA Network Open study found that 67 percent of calories in U.S. children’s diets come from ultra-processed foods. A 2024 article in the Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior noted that many school lunches still include processed foods despite growing concerns about their impact on children’s health.
Schools updated meal standards in 2012 to match the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, but parents remained unconvinced. Processed foods like pizza and corn dogs still dominated menus—reformulated just enough to meet United States Department of Agriculture requirements. While these meals meet nutrient standards on paper, parents see past the label, calling for changes beyond the bare minimum.
Kraft Heinz recently announced it will stop offering Lunchables in the National School Lunch Program, citing low demand and nutritional concerns, including high sodium and toxic lead levels, according to Consumer Reports. This reflects a growing focus on the quality of processed foods in school meals. Meanwhile, countries like Japan, Sweden, and France serve fresh, minimally processed meals—and some of their children have lower rates of obesity and metabolic disease.
Health Influence on Children
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that U.S. childhood obesity rates have tripled since the 1970s, affecting nearly 20 percent of children and adolescents in 2020.
Scientific research highlights the connection between diet and health. A 2024 study in Nutrients found that children eating high levels of ultra-processed foods had increased risks of obesity, insulin resistance, and mood disorders. Additionally, Frontiers in Nutrition reported a correlation between diets high in processed foods and cognitive function in children, including memory, learning, and attention.
New York school nutrition director Deborah Mackey told The Epoch Times that when her school started incorporating more fresh foods into the lunch program, staff saw higher academic achievement, decreased behavioral problems, and fewer trips to the nurse’s station.
What Other Countries Are Doing Right
Japan
Japan’s school meal program emphasizes fresh, whole ingredients such as rice, fish, vegetables, and soups. Meals are prepared daily, and children are taught the importance of balanced nutrition.
As a result, Japan has one of the lowest childhood obesity rates globally at just 3.9 percent, according to a 2023 JAMA Pediatrics study. Japan’s nationwide school lunch program plays a key role in its low childhood obesity rate. The program offers balanced, scratch-made meals with controlled portions and diverse foods. A 2019 study from 2006 to 2015 found that a 10 percent increase in school lunch coverage led to a 0.37 percent drop in overweight and a 0.23 percent drop in obesity among junior high school boys.
Sweden
Swedish schools provide free, locally sourced, and nutritionally balanced meals to all students, ensuring access to healthy food regardless of socioeconomic status. Sweden’s school meal program tackles obesity by combining nutritious meals with education on food, health, and physical activity, according to a 2021 survey by the Global Child Nutrition Foundation.
France
France’s school cafeterias ban ultra-processed foods and focus on high-quality, fresh ingredients. School meals are designed to teach children healthy eating habits that last a lifetime. Vending machines have been banned in French schools since 2005 to reduce exposure to sugary, processed snacks.
“At lunchtime, our kids will eat grilled chicken breasts and salads. At the high school, it is a self-serve with choices for a starter, a main course, and a dessert,” Sophie Fieuzet, a concerned mother from Toulouse, France, told The Epoch Times. She relays that many French high schools have a long lunch break—typically 1.5 to 2 hours—and students can either eat at the school cafeteria or leave campus to eat at home or elsewhere.
For French students, lunch is a time to pause, connect, and appreciate good food. The focus is on fresh, seasonal ingredients and mindful eating rather than just filling up quickly.
US Efforts
The United States struggles to provide fresh foods for various reasons, including the following:
Cost: Low-income communities often struggle with higher costs and limited access to fresh food.
Infrastructure: A 2024 study published in The Journal of School Nursing found that many U.S. schools lack the supply chain and staff to prepare fresh meals at scale. These challenges were especially evident during the pandemic.
Food Safety: Schools must comply with strict food safety regulations, which can make using fresh, minimally processed ingredients more difficult, including keeping foods cold, according to the 2024 Nutrients study.
A Call for Change
Despite these challenges, USDA programs like The Patrick Leahy Farm to School Program are helping schools incorporate more locally grown foods into their meals.
“One of the biggest strengths of the U.S. school meal programs is the ongoing shift toward offering more scratch-made meals and incorporating locally sourced ingredients. School nutrition professionals are transforming the perception of school cafeteria food by enhancing meal quality and integrating nutrition and culinary education opportunities to promote healthy eating habits among students,” Ashley Robbins, Texas-based registered school dietitian, told The Epoch Times.
Change is already underway, with concerned groups and parents pushing for healthier school meals:
- Some states and districts are experimenting with fresher meal options despite budget constraints. New York City has implemented Plant-Powered Fridays to introduce more whole foods and plant-based meals while reducing processed options. Many of these meals are made from scratch with fresh ingredients.
- Parents are demanding higher-quality food for their children, pressuring schools to make changes. A grassroots movement called the Metabolic Revolution has a petition to urge policymakers to ban ultra-processed foods from school lunches and prioritize whole-food options. The recent petition has gained significant traction, reflecting parents’ growing concern over what their children eat at school.
- Moms Across America, a concerned parent group, advocates for more transparency and better nutrition in school lunches. In 2022, the group conducted independent lab tests on U.S. school lunches and found concerning levels of pesticides, heavy metals, veterinary drugs, and harmful additives in the food. Their findings highlighted potential health risks for children, including exposure to toxins that could impact brain function, behavior, and overall well-being. The results fueled concerns about the quality of school meals and the need for cleaner, more nutritious options for students.
Christopher Palmer, author of Brain Energy, stresses the importance of paying attention to what kids are eating. The Harvard assistant professor of psychiatry testified at a U.S. Senate Roundtable in September of last year:
“The chronic disease epidemic is escalating at an alarming rate across Western societies, with our youth bearing a disproportionate burden. When these conditions begin in childhood, their impact is compounded, leading to lifelong health complications and disrupted social, emotional, and cognitive development.”
Serving Positivity—One Banana at a Time
Alongside her staff, Wow-Wright writes uplifting messages on fresh bananas for students. Words like “able” and “inspired” reflect her mission—shared by many school nutrition staff—to transform kids’ eating by introducing healthier, fresher foods.
Today, some school nutrition workers are being the change they wish to see. “We do more than 60 percent scratch cooking, but no matter how awesome the meals are, if you can’t get the buy-in from parents and kids—and you’re not feeding them – what good is all that? We need to get kids involved and interested,” New York school nutrition director Mackey said.
To get kids excited about fresh foods, Mackey involves youth in menu planning and has implemented a “flavor station” where kids can add herbs and spices to their foods. She also started an Iron Chef student competition where kids can show off their culinary creations.
With an appetite for change and a passion for better school meals, getting kids excited about healthy eating could make a nutritious lunch future closer than we think.
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