The Financial Impact of Competitive Food Standards

The Financial Impact Of Competitive Food Standards

Wed 27 Feb 2013

Story by The Food Revolution Team
 

At the beginning of the month, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) proposed long-awaited national nutrition standards for snack foods sold in schools.

According to research by the Kids’ Safe and Healthful Foods Project (KSHF), implementing guidelines for these items could increase food service revenue while also helping kids maintain a healthy weight.

Last week KSHF released some great new materials demonstrating how these national nutrition standards for snack foods and beverages sold outside of the meal program can increase school food service revenue and therefore better uptake of the proposed new standards:

• An interactive calculator which demonstrates how this phenomenon plays out in a typical middle school cafeteria and shows the total food service revenue and overall nutritional value of a USDA school meal compared to those of an a la carte lunch and vending machine sales.

• A Q&A with economic analyst Neal Wallace, the lead economic analyst for the project’s health impact assessment, and project director Jessica Donze Black further explains the potential financial implications of a school snack food policy.

Be sure to check out these new materials to find out more and stay tuned for more information on what exactly the proposed rule means for snacks in school, how they could help kids maintain a healthy weight, and how you can act before the comment period ends on March 9th. In the meantime you can read up some more on the rule here.

If you want to share this important message then why not use this messaging to help spread the word across your social media networks.

Facebook: When you give your child lunch money, where does it go? How nutritious is food from the regular lunch line, a la carte line, or vending machines, and how much money do schools make from each type of transaction? The answers may not be what you think. Click to learn more. http://bit.ly/Y84Sma

Twitter: How much do schools make from vending machines vs. the regular lunch line? Not what you think. http://bit.ly/Y84Sma

The Food Revolution Team

Image: Taken from the interactive calculator.