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A nine-week nutrition education program for kindergarten through sixth grade was implemented and its influence on children's food behavior assessed using a pretest/post-test design involving children who were and were not exposed to the program. The food behavior response was mixed. Consumption of some food items, at post-test time, was higher among pupils exposed to the program, but that of other items was lower, and consumption of some items was unaffected. Responses to questionnaires by parents indicated that they perceived a favorable effect of the nutrition education program on their children's food behavior.

Data reflecting consumption of foods offered in an elementary school cafeteria were collected over a four-day period prior to and after implementation of a nutrition education program. Two methods were employed to measure plate waste, one involving the physical weighing of the returned foods and the other visual examination of the wastes on each child's tray. The two measurement techniques provided similar data on all food items except for stewed tomatoes. For them the visual method consistently exhibited a higher percent plate waste. The sex of the child influenced the amount of food wasted, with the plate waste of 18 food items being higher for girls than for boys. Plate waste of six food items were influenced by grade level; however, except for one item, there was no consistent trend from lower to higher grades.