Mississippi strongly supports healthy school meals

Mississippi's support of strict national school-lunch nutrition standards ranks higher than the national average despite persistent claims they leave kids hungry or dissatisfied, according to a poll released Wednesday by the Kids' Safe and Healthful Foods Project.

Eight out of 10 Mississippi voters favor the National School Lunch Program's enhanced nutritional guidelines, which went into effect three years ago, the poll found. Among parents of Mississippi public school children, 76 percent support the guidelines. Nationally, the rate is 72 percent.

Adopted by the USDA Food and Nutrition Service, the controversial guidelines require schools to serve more fruits and vegetables, more whole grains, less sodium, and no trans fats. It also caps the number of calories at 650 for elementary school meals and 850 for those served in high school.

Complaints emerged almost immediately that students refused to eat the fruits and vegetables, that the lower calorie content left them hungry, and that it cost schools too much to implement.

But that's just not the case, said Jessica Donze Black, director of the project, which is a joint initiative of The Pew Charitable Trusts and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

"Part of our reason for doing it is because there are so many mixed stories of what's happening," sahe said. "What we learned is, yes, people want healthy foods in school. This is what parents and voters want."

But it's not always what kids want.

Madison County School District experienced all of those woes with the implementation of the new federal guidelines. After losing $300,000 on the program in the past two years alone, the district voted recently to end its food service program and outsource the job to a private vendor.

"Our participation (in school lunches) dropped precipitously since the healthy food program," said Madison County Superintendent Ronnie McGehee. "We found early on that there wasn't enough calories for the kids to each lunch and stay awake for the afternoon."

The district hopes to sign a contract with Chartwells School Dining Services, which has been providing meals to Biloxi Public School children for more than a decade. The private company must meet all the state and federal guidelines, but does so in a way that appeals to children, said Biloxi's Food Services Director Dixie Eleuterius.

Students choose meals from one of five stations: a hot meal station, an Amigo station, a wraps station, a hamburger station, or a salad station. Nearly eight out of 10 students eat school lunches, Eleuterius said. That's up from previous years and higher than the district's 68 percent free-and-reduced-lunch participation.

At 71.5 percent overall, Mississippi has the nation's highest rate of children eligible to receive free and reduced lunches because they come from low-income households. For many of these children, the bulk of their daily nutrition comes from the school cafeteria. For some, it's their only meal of the day.

"A lot of the children in Mississippi are not going to have a choice as far as whether to bring or get a school lunch," said Sandra Shelson, executive director for The Partnership for a Healthy Mississippi. "If we are providing a meal to a child, it needs to be as healthiest meal we can offer."

Madison Avenue Upper Elementary fifth grader Anna Carr noticed healthier options in her school cafeteria starting last year, including fresh juices, yogurts and fruits. The new offerings have prompted Anna, who usually brings her own lunch to school, to give cafeteria food a try.

"I think it's way healthier than before," Anna said. "And they give you more choices and stuff."

Her sister, an eighth grader at Madison Middle School, disagrees.

"The food doesn't look good," said Emma Carr, who packs her own lunch daily. "I eat their fries, though. Their fries are good."

French fries aren't really what federal nutrition experts had in mind when they upped the standards, but kids can be picky. To encourage healthier eating, schools must serve not only more nutritious meals, but more appealing meals.

Clinton Junior High School has been doing that for years, said Cafeteria Manager Marquissa Mack, who explained that the entire Clinton Public School District adopted healthier menu items long before the new federal mandate.

Mack's adolescent customers gobble up fresh fruits – she can hardly keep them stocked – but she admits they could use a little extra nudging on the vegetables. She also said about 30 teachers regularly dine in the cafeteria, which speaks to the menu's broad appeal.

"School lunch is so much cheaper than lunch from home," Mack said. "We offer a meat, a grain, a fruit, a vegetable and a dairy product on a daily basis. You can't get a better deal."

Contact Emily Le Coz at (601) 961-7249 or elecoz@jackson.gannett.com. Follow @emily_lecoz on Twitter.