1. Providing School Meals to All Students Free of Charge during the COVID-19 Pandemic and Beyond: Challenges and Benefits Reported by School Foodservice Professionals in California
- Author
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Monica D. Zuercher, Juliana F. W. Cohen, Christina E. Hecht, Kenneth Hecht, Lorrene D. Ritchie, and Wendi Gosliner
- Subjects
Pediatric ,Nutrition and Dietetics ,universal school meals ,breakfast ,lunch ,nutrition ,children ,Food Services ,COVID-19 ,Solid Waste ,Quality Education ,Lunch ,Food Sciences ,Clinical Research ,Humans ,Students ,Child ,Pandemics ,Meals ,Food Science - Abstract
Universal school meals (USM) have the potential to increase access to healthy food for millions of U.S. students. This study evaluated school food authorities’ (SFA) perspectives of federal USM in response to COVID-19 (school year (SY) 2021–22) and California’s upcoming USM policy in the SY 2022–23. In February 2022, all SFAs in California (n = 1116) were invited to complete an online survey. Descriptive statistics and logistic regression examining differences by school demographic characteristics were used. Five hundred and eighty-one SFAs completed the survey; 63% of them first implemented USM during the COVID-19 pandemic. Reported benefits included increased student meal participation (79.2%) and reduced stigma (39.7%). Top challenges included staffing (76.9%) and meal packaging/solid waste (67.4%). Nearly all SFAs reported pandemic-related challenges procuring the necessary types (88.9%) and amounts of foods (85.9%), and non-food supplies/equipment (82.6%). Over 40% reported that federal reimbursements were insufficient to cover costs. SFAs with
- Published
- 2022
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