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A Widespread Issue Throughout Schools

What are the negative effects of food waste in schools?

December 2021

Contributing writers: Brianna Pires, Jill Davies , Kiran McWilliams, Taylen Downing

Imagine you’re at school and you just got dismissed and decide to grab a hot lunch from the cafeteria.
After lunch is over and you go to throw away your trash. You then realize piles and piles of uneaten food. At
this moment, what thoughts would you have about the food waste?

Normally food waste isn't considered a problem because, for the most part, it isn't considered at all. It's easy to
ignore because it's both common and customary. I have yet to meet someone who is pro-food waste, but many
aren't convinced that it's important.

Meals in school cafeterias are wasted continuously each year by students due to food allergies, dietary
needs, and poor nutritional habits.

The food waste in schools is “about 40 percent” (Neff). Keeping this in mind, you can get an understanding of
the significance of how much food is actually wasted. This high of a percentage can act as a reminder for others
to change and improve the amount of food they consume so food waste can be prevented.

The choices of meals provided are unhealthy and cause children to become overweight. The researcher from
The Daily Telegraph states that “More than a third of families said their school only "sometimes" served
vegetables, while more than one in 19 said their children were given none.” For a child to stay on a healthy diet
they need to be eating vegetables daily. And if school is a students only source of food”; therefore, they are not
getting the nutrients and correct diet that is needed to live a healthy lifestyle. “It found some schools were
offering 11 different types of desserts, as well as biscuits, doughnuts, pizza, sausage rolls, fried chicken wings
and pastries.” (researcher from the daily telegraph)

It is important to realize schools are also supposed to follow certain food guidelines with things that they can
serve to a limit. With such unhealthy food in a childs diet, it may cause the child to get sick/obese and stop
wanting to eat what is served. This can result in further sicknesses like body dysmorphia and the student may
result in the absence of school, soon after the school will be providing too much food when less students stop
showing up.

The USDA school meal supports ``on average, a single meal costs students $2.48 at the elementary-school level
and $2.74 at the high-school level.” Some families that are unable to make food at home and rely on school
lunch and breakfast at that add up to be over $5 a day. ’ At the present time, due to a rise in unemployment rates
to 14.7% in the US because of COVID-19 it would make it even harder to spend an extra $5 a day when there’s
already a loss of household income.

With the obvious decline in job market and income due to the shortage in the job market and COVID-19 the
local or state governments should have stepped in to cover the wage gap.
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From time to time, when students do show up to school, many of them have to eat a school lunch, and that may
be because they don’t have food at home or they just forgot to pack a lunch that day. The problem here is that
they will not finish all of their food because they
will pick and choose what they want, and most of
the time it is not the healthy foods. A quote from
an article has good evidence on how kids are
hungry and says, “But some kids hate it. Their
cries of hunger sound like a variant of the old
joke that the food tastes terrible and the portions
are way too small.” - Talk of the Nation.

This example right here shows how kids are not

interested in eating the foods the schools are
providing and that they are not eating it because
they will only eat what is appealing to them.
“The students want to eat tastier healthy food and
not (in their opinion) bland and tasteless foods.
You have to have at least a certain number of
calories so children don't go hungry, but you also can't go over a certain level of calories so that we're careful
not to overfeed kids while we're giving them all the nutrition they need.” When the schools try to fix the
problem, they should not buy more than they need to, but find foods with better nutritious factors so they do not
over feed the children.

What you can do

Saving food for later/donating can be one of the many ways to prevent food waste. When given food that you
don’t want or don’t see yourself eating, save it for later or donate it. “Pre-consumer food that is left over should
be donated to food banks, such as Feeding America” (Belon). This way all food can be eaten, especially for
those in need.

Additionally, using a portion control tactic can be a solution to this issue. Giving all students the same amount
of food (even too little) is better than giving too much and having it go to waste. If it does end up being not
enough, the student should be welcome to get more food as long as they eat it. “...a child must take certain
portions of nutritional food whether they are going to eat it or not, so a lot of it gets thrown away" (Wilson). This is a
perfect example that goes to show how portion control can affect what happens to food and where it ends up going,
whether that’s in the trash or in your stomach.

School is not a restaurant, school has a small variety of options available for the children to choose from.
Schools try to accommodate different wants but with short staff and limited products.” Beef and chicken seem
to be the most challenging items to order… districts throughout Wisconsin have reported shortages of
everything from produce to plasticware (Walker).” It is not a matter of school not wanting to serve the
community a variety of food; resources are limited due to budget and availability.

In contrast, the cafeterias are offended by kids saying they don't follow their medical needs. The people who
work in the food departments in school believe they are providing the right foods and that there shouldn't be a
problem with it. They think it is unfair that the students are complaining when they have gone through training
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on how to make sure they take into consideration each child’s dietary needs, including allergies. “Staff training
push ALLERGY experts admit that keeping nuts and other food allergens out of schools and childcare is
impossible“ -Martin, Naomi. No matter how hard they try, nuts and other things children may be allergic to will
show up inevitably.

It’s not that the children are being picky eaters, eating some of these foods can cause them great harm. “Cases
like one in Spokane, Washington, where a young peanut-allergic student died on a field trip, remind us that
reactions can occur suddenly at any time or place” (Munoz-Furlong). Furthermore, this focuses on how serious
and harmful food allergies can be. Since an allergic reaction can take place anywhere, students would most
likely not want to take that chance at school by eating the cafeteria food. Some parents of students with peanut
allergies urge schools to have peanut-free environments.

“However, school officials face a backlash from other parents if they implement such a policy, and they also
know that becoming completely peanut free is next to impossible” (Hoff). Because it is extremely hard to have a
safe peanut/food allergy free school, this is why kids aren’t going to eat
the food that is served to them and continuously create waste.

How to help?

With all things considered, Don’t buy food unless you plan on eating it.
When you buy and don’t eat them, you aren’t only wasting food but
wasting money as well which has no positive outcome. (The researcher
states that) “ Children in poverty rely on the free offerings from the
schools to support their daily nutritional needs.” When daily nutrition
isn't provided for students the food is not being eaten, and for this
reason the waste will be thrown away. It is also bad for the environment
because this waste is ending up in landfills when it should be feeding
those who need it.

Think before you waste

Generally speaking, food waste is happening all over the world. Every day. It is a global issue. The continuous
food waste is becoming a widespread problem and if it gets out of hand, it will start to affect the daily lives of
individuals. If people from all over came together and unanimously worked on how to change these negative
effects, the amount of food waste could be significantly less.

This article is meant to show the problems most people see as insignificant or don’t think about very often, in
hopes readers will give us their time, open their minds and help contribute to the solution of this problem.

Next time you think about getting lunch at school, consider the amount of food you take and how that decision
can affect others.
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Works Cited:

Belon, Dina, and Jennie Morton. "5 TACTICS to REDUCE FOOD WASTE." Buildings, vol. 109, no. 7, 07
2015, pp. 32-34,36. eLibrary, https://explore.proquest.com/elibrary/document/1699088055?accountid=143906.

Healthier School Lunches may Leave Kids Hungry. NPR, Washington, D.C., 2012. eLibrary,
https://explore.proquest.com/elibrary/document/1080807397?accountid=143906.

Hoff, Dianne L., and Sidney N. Mitchell. "A Peanuty Dilemma." Phi Delta Kappan, vol. 91, no. 7, 2010, pp.
59-63. eLibrary, https://explore.proquest.com/elibrary/document/218487104?accountid=143906.

Https://Www.usda.gov/Foodlossandwaste/Schools.

Martin, Naomi. "Free School Lunches, but Now, a Catch." Boston Globe, 16 Dec 2020. eLibrary,
https://explore.proquest.com/elibrary/document/2470159910?accountid=143906.

Munoz-Furlong, Anne. "Going Nuts Over Allergies." The Education Digest, vol. 71, no. 6, 2006, pp. 33-34.
eLibrary, https://explore.proquest.com/elibrary/document/218183959?accountid=143906.

Neff, Roni A., Rebecca Kanter, and Stefanie Vandevijvere. "Reducing Food Loss and Waste while Improving
the Public's Health." Health Affairs, vol. 34, no. 11 2015, pp. 1821-5A. eLibrary,
https://explore.proquest.com/elibrary/document/1731536040?accountid=143906,
doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1377/hlthaff.2015.0647.

Russell, Suzanne. "Woodbridge Schools Fires Food Service Provider After Complaints." Home News Tribune,
02 Oct 2021. eLibrary, https://explore.proquest.com/elibrary/document/2578275028?accountid=143906.

"Schools Failing on Food Allergies." The Courier - Mail, 07 Oct 2021, pp. 13. eLibrary,
https://explore.proquest.com/elibrary/document/2579452413?accountid=143906.

"Schools Returning to 'Beige Days' of Unhealthy Food, Warns Oliver." The Daily Telegraph, 15 Nov 2021, pp.
10. eLibrary, https://explore.proquest.com/elibrary/document/2597378203?accountid=143906.

Walker, Marlon A. "COUNTYWIDE: Parents Say DeKalb School District has Delivered Rotten, Expired
Food." The Atlanta Journal - Constitution, 27 Aug 2020. eLibrary,
https://explore.proquest.com/elibrary/document/2437319332?accountid=143906.

Wilson, Drew C. "Reducing Waste in School Cafeterias: Program Asks Students to Share Unused Portions."
TCA Regional News, 29 Jan 2020. eLibrary,
https://explore.proquest.com/elibrary/document/2347680073?accountid=143906.

Zarling, Patti. "Lunches Facing Pinch." Press, 30 Sep 2021. eLibrary,

https://explore.proquest.com/elibrary/document/2577591370?accountid=143906.
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