Introduction
Background
According to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), the National School Lunch Program (NSLP, school lunch program, school lunches) is a “federally assisted meal program operating in public and nonprofit private schools and residential child care institutions.” The NSLP is a result of the National School Lunch Act signed in 1946.[1] In a factsheet released by the USDA, it states that the school lunch program provides “low-cost or no-cost lunches to children each school day.” Public, non-profit private schools, residential child care institutions, and charter schools that participate in the program receive cash subsidies and USDA food with the promise that they will serve lunches to students that are eligible to participate. [2] The program allows the USDA to do two main actions. First, it buys surplus commodities from farmers, then they distribute these foods in the form of subsidized school meals. [3] The lunches distributed are required to meet nutritional standards including “one-third to one-half of the minimum daily food group requirements,” “a minimum of one-third the recommended dietary intake of vitamin A, vitamin C, iron, calcium, and calories,” and a maximum number of total calories from fat allowed. [4]
Eligibility
The USDA has a certain set of eligibility requirements for the national school lunch program. Children are deemed eligible to participate in the program “based on their status as a homeless, migrant, runaway, or foster child” and/or if they come “from families with incomes at or below 130 percent of the Federal poverty level,” whereas reduced price lunches are offered to children who come from families “with incomes between 130 and 185 percent of the Federal poverty level.” The USDA reported that 30.4 million children participated in the NSLP in 2016. 2
Historical Context
While the national school lunch program is a federal U.S. program, its origins can be traced to Europe. The USDA credits Benjamin Thompson with the origins of free lunches. Thompson, an American, spent much of his life travelling around Europe during the 18th century. While in Germany, he founded the Poor People’s Institute, which provided employment and food to children and adults. Thompson wanted to ensure that the meals he provided to people had “the best nutrition at the lowest possible cost.” His ideas later spread to other European nations, including England, Scotland, France, and Switzerland. [5]
Similar programs emerged in the United States, such as the one created by the Children’s Aid Society of New York in 1853; however, the trend did not prove to be as successful in the United States until the 20th century. Similar programs slowly sprang up across the country, including one in Philadelphia that resulted in the School Board establishing a Department of High School Lunches and ones in Boston under the Boston School Committee. The USDA credits the book Poverty by Robert Hunter for the United States’ increased concern in feeding hungry children. Hunter argues that hungry students are less likely to learn and that the United States has a duty to meet the “physical needs of the children who come from the homes of poverty.”6 Gradually—and much to the delight of advocates— programs began in more cities across the U.S. including Cleveland, Cincinnati, St. Louis, Chicago, and Los Angeles. “Under these varied means of support—by philanthropic organizations, school-oriented associations, school district boards, and individuals—the school lunch program continued to expand, gaining momentum during the decade of the 1920s.” [6]
“President Truman, seated, signed the National School Lunch Act, which authorizes the U.S. Department of Agriculture to assume half the expenses for school lunches in any state assuming the other half. Thus, for the first time, this program, which has run for 11 years on a year-to-year basis with no financial participation by the states, becomes a permanent part of the Department’s activities.” Source: Truman Library [7]
By the 1930s, many states had passed legislation to provide meals for students, however it was not until 1946 that the National School Lunch Act was passed under the Truman administration. However, this law likely stemmed from a mid-1930s program in which the USDA purchased surplus food from poor, struggling farmers and distributed them to the public. 3
During the Great Depression, farmers were eager to have their goods sell in any market, though, without buyers, goods were in surplus. At the same time, “the danger of malnutrition among children became a national concern.” As a result, Congress passed Public Law 320 in 1936, which “made available to the Secretary of Agriculture an amount of money equal to 30 percent of the gross receipts form duties collected under the customs laws during each calendar year.” In short, “the object of this legislation was to remove price-depressing surplus foods from the market through government purchase and dispose of them through exports and domestic donations to consumers in such a way as to not interfere with normal sales.” Within a year of the adoption of the law, the program had been implemented in 3,839 schools. By 1942, this number had increased by almost 75,000. With the start of World War II, most of the farm surpluses were spent on the war effort, leaving small amounts of food for the school lunch programs. The USDA states that this amount dropped from 454 million to 93 million pounds over the course of a few years. In 1943, Congress passed a law setting aside a maximum of $60 million for the school lunch program. This number eventually grew with each year as the program continued to expand. By April 1946, the program had expanded to include 45,119 schools serving 6.7 million children daily.[8] The yearly changes to the school lunch program budget left many feel uneasy about the constant uncertainty. In 1946, Congress passed the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act:
“It is hereby declared to be the policy of Congress, as a measure of national security, to safeguard the health and the well-being of the Nation’s children and to encourage the domestic consumption of nutritious agricultural commodities and other food, by assisting the States, through grants-in-aid and other means, in providing an adequate supply of foods and other facilities for the establishment, maintenance, operation, and expansion of nonprofit school lunch programs.” [9]
The original legislation included several requirements of the program: “lunches were to meet certain nutritional standards; lunch programs had to be non-profit; subsidized lunches were to be available to all children, and free or reduced-price lunches had to be provided to children unable to pay the full price; non-Federal matching funds were required, and the USDA was to purchase and distribute commodities for school food programs.”3 In 1962, the act was amended to allocate money to the states based on the participation rate and the assistance need rate for the state.[10] The NSLP grew exponentially in the span of a few decades, with the number of children participating increasing from 4.5 million to 18.9 million.
Controversy
Historical
A great portion of the country saw success in the school lunch program. However, in 1968, only about 12% of school participating in the program actually received the lunches. According to the USDA, there were some school authorities that believed the school should have no part in the responsibility of feeding children. While some schools or school principals take a removed stance from the issue of malnutrition in children, advocates for the school lunch program see benefit in making sure each child has an adequate meal. However, later that year, the Committee on School Lunch Participation exposed the real reason for non-participation. According to their report:
“Of 60-million school children, fewer than two million, just under 4 percent, are able to get a free or reduced price school lunch. Whether or not a child is eligible for a free lunch is determined not by any universally accepted formula, but by local decisions about administration and financing which may or may not have anything to do with the need of the individual child. And generally speaking, the greater the need of children from a poor neighborhood, the less the community is able to meet it.”
The growing concern after the release of this information led Congress to create a Senate Select Committee on Nutrition and Human Needs, and under President Nixon, a new program called the Food and Nutrition Service was created within the USDA to lead the various food programs. [11]
Recent
While the school lunch program is geared toward providing nutritional benefits, there are shocking findings about school lunches. According to a 1990s School Nutrition Dietary Assessment study, “NSLP participation positively influences lunchtime intakes of vitamin A, riboflavin, niacin, vitamin B12, calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, and zinc, and negatively influences intake of vitamin C.” Researchers also found that participation “led to a significant increase in students’ fat and saturated fat intake and a significant decrease in their carbohydrate intake.” [12]
According to an unverified 2009 USA Today article, “McDonald’s, Burger King and Costco, for instance, are far more rigorous in checking for bacteria and dangerous pathogens” than the NSLP. This is harmful not only because “children are more vulnerable to food-borne illnesses because of their fledgling immune systems,” but “there’s less assurance that school cafeteria workers will cook meat well enough to kill any pathogens that might slip through the USDA’s less stringent safety checks.” [13]
Relation to Politics of Health
The National School Lunch Program is related to politics of health through Michel Foucault’s concept of biopower. In the History of Sexuality, Foucault defines biopower as a series of “techniques for achieving the subjugation of bodies and the control of populations.”[14] He argues that we can find biopower even in our most intimate relationships. The “sovereign” power of the U.S. government and the school districts, in this case, oversee their subjects to ensure that their bodies are receiving what is needed to maintain productivity and docility. Because of the inequities between those of different socioeconomic statuses that lead to disparities in health—including daily nutrition—a program like this one is necessary to fill the immediate need of citizens. The standardization of meals that meet a certain nutritional requirement illustrates the institutionalization of health in the U.S. The control that figures of authority can so easily wield over children and their families across the country shows that their life and health are “objects” of the state and institutional power.
Additional Resources
- https://www.ted.com/talks/ann_cooper_talks_school_lunches/
- This is a TED Talk by the Director of Nutrition Services for the Berkeley Unified School District. She talks about the food supply and production of food that is used in national school lunches. She passionately and clearly presents her argument against the school lunches and suggest ways in which it must be changed in order to benefit children. This resource is good for a non-USDA perspective.
- http://schoolnutrition.org/Meetings/Events/NSLW/2017/
- This website provides information about national school lunch week, a week set aside each year by the USDA. The purpose of the week is to provide children with information about nutritional eating. The website includes resources that school officials can use to teach children. This resource is useful for a closer look into the institutionalization of school lunches.
- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3788640/
- This study analyzes food waste in Boston middle schools during 2007-2009. The study finds that there is excessive food waste leading to both nutrient losses and economic losses in schools. This study provides both an economical and a medical perspective.
Works Cited
[1] “National School Lunch Program (NSLP).” Food and Nutrition Service. February 09, 2018. Accessed February 14, 2018. https://www.fns.usda.gov/nslp/national-school-lunch-program-nslp.
[2] “The National School Lunch Program Fact Sheet.” November 2017. Accessed February 14, 2018.
[3] Jones, Jean Yavis. “School Lunch Program: Brief Description, History and Data.” Congressional Research Service, January 25, 1983, 3-5. Accessed February 14, 2018.
[4] Palmer, Debrah M. “School Lunch Programs.” In Encyclopedia of Obesity, 672-73. Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications, 2008.
[5] Gunderson, Gordon W. “Background and Development in Europe.” Food and Nutrition Service. May 23, 2017. Accessed February 14, 2018. https://www.fns.usda.gov/nslp/history_1.
[6] Gunderson, Gordon W. “Early Programs by States.” Food and Nutrition Service. May 23, 2017. Accessed February 14, 2018. https://www.fns.usda.gov/nslp/history_2.
[7] “President Truman signs National School Lunch Act.” Truman Library Photograph: President Truman signs National School Lunch Act. Accessed February 16, 2018. https://www.trumanlibrary.org/photographs/view.php?id=4518.
[8] Gunderson, Gordon W. “Early Federal Aid.” Food and Nutrition Service. April 25, 2017. Accessed February 14, 2018. https://www.fns.usda.gov/nslp/history_4.
[9] Public Law 396, 79th Congress, June 4, 1946, 60 Stat. 231.
[10] Gunderson, Gordon W. “National School Lunch Act.” Food and Nutrition Service. February 24, 2017. Accessed February 14, 2018. https://www.fns.usda.gov/nslp/history_5.
[11] Gunderson, Gordon W. “Public Concern, Action and Status.” Food and Nutrition Service. April 28, 2017. Accessed February 14, 2018. https://www.fns.usda.gov/nslp/history_7.
[12] Gleason, P. M., and C. W. Suitor. “Eating at School: How the National School Lunch Program Affects Children’s Diets.” American Journal of Agricultural Economics85, no. 4 (2003): 1047-061. Accessed February 14, 2018.
[13] Eisler, Peter, Blake Morrison, and Anthony DeBarros. “Fast-food standards for meat top those for school lunches.” USA Today. December 09, 2009. Accessed February 14, 2018. https://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/education/2009-12-08-school-lunch-standards_N.htm.
[14] Foucault, Michel. “The history of sexuality, volume I.” New York: Vintage (1978). 140.
« Back to Glossary Index