Poverty is a big problem all over the world. Wasting food when we have a lot is a big NO. This is what parents and teachers want to instill in the minds of children. In an article written in Herald Extra, a school in Alpine District waste about $4,000 worth of vegetables and fruits. This situation doesn't only happen in one area or country but all throughout the nation.
The federal regulations known as the Healthy Hunger-free Kids Act recently recommend students eating their lunches in school to take only half a cup of either fruits or vegetables. They want to provide them with enough nutrition as well as saving it from being wasted. Normally, about 73 percent of the students throw away their remaining vegetables and about 47 percent discard the fruits.
There is an estimated 50 percent or half of the students in Alpine School District throw those items according to Linda Ward, director of nutrition services. She said that nearly half of the fruits and vegetables are being thrown in the garbage directly almost every day. She added that its costs about $8,000 every day for each student to throw these items. If about half is thrown daily then that would be about $4,000 every day. It's not only wasting money but wasting good quality produce as well.
Now they are working on a program with Nebo by offering food with flavors that meet the guidelines. They have flavored applesauce, strawberry, peach and blue raspberry. They also used packaged fruit juices. For vegetables, they are using baby carrots to make colorful and attractive vegetable cups. After implementing this kind of change, the waste went from 50 percent to half which is 25 percent.
It is something every school has struggling with all over the country and with this kind of change hopefully it will make things better, Larsen said. She has been working for this program for 4 months now, but has worked as a child nutritionist for 15 years. There are many things that has been tried in order to encourage the kids. They really try their best to make the meals that kids would love and enjoy. Something that tastes as good as it looks and still meet the nutritional guidelines. This way we can ensure that they consume everything and hopefully one day no more waste food in the garbage, she added.
