But is part of it the new lousy food pushed by Michelle Obama? I’ve heard stories of how the new allegedly healthier food is not going over well with the kids.
This is a good example of unintended consequences too. These kids aren’t eating the allegedly healthier food. They are throwing food away, and probably stopping at 7-11 or such places on the way home from school, and eating junk food there. Efforts such as Michelle Obama’s push for healthier food in school could actually increase consumption of junk food. Just a thought.
I’m sure the fact that the food sucks is a part of this as well. Toss that in with the fact that school kids are, in general, rebellious and you have a lot of “free” food in the trashcan.
It's a good one. What I observed is that most kids brought in candy bars, chips, soda and those energy drinks with questionable ingredients. A few brought in nuts, nacho chips and salsa, sunflower seeds or something else healthy.
A lot of schools that serve kids with economic needs have a program where once during the day they get a fresh fruit or veggie break. It's a real pain to keep it sanitary and distribute and pick up afterwords, but actually it's surprising. The kids do eat the fruit or vegetable if it's good quality, and use it to develop their pitching arms if it's disgusting.
Some farm labor lobby is still probably benefiting from the program. They have to buy that produce from someplace.
eat your peas!