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LAUSD Joins Nationwide Alliance to Tackle School Lunches
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LAUSD is banding together with other districts across the country to help change the way our children eat during school hours. They're hoping to not only correct the course of childhood obesity and diabetes, but also to have a less harmful environmental impact.
They've formed an alliance with New York, Chicago, Dallas, Miami and Orlando, Fla. to make wholesome food a national standard. The combined impact of the groups is 2.5 million daily meals served and $530 million annually spent.
Says the Times:
Each alliance member has been assigned to a specific project. New York, for example, is working on lowering prices for organic, free-range chicken. Chicago currently serves such meat but can only afford to do so once a month — one organic chicken leg costs 40 cents while a non-organic leg-thigh combo is just 23 cents, according to Leslie Fowler of the Chicago Public Schools. Likewise, environmentally sound trays and utensils are relatively expensive. Fowler said a biodegradable tray costs 12 cents while a polystyrene one is a third that price. Miami is working on trays while Orlando is researching better flatware than the plastic "spork." Los Angeles is heading up communications efforts.
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There are high hopes that the alliance will be able to figure out a way to make these new school lunches appealing to the kids, especially after LAUSD had such a hard time getting students to enjoy things like quinoa in their first menu revamp and taking all that heat for calling pizza a vegetable.
If the changes aren't tasty, the black market for Cheetos and ramen noodles will continue to exist. And our kids will continue to be fat.
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