Federal Regulations on School Lunches

Before the 2013-2014 school year, the federal government made new regulations for school lunch programs. Some of these regulations haven't sat well with students in South Dakota schools and all for good reason. Some of the new federal lunch regulations aren't exactly appealing to K-12 grade students.
Here are some of the federal guidelines:

• It must be a whole grain product
• the first ingredient in must be a fruit, vegetable, dairy, or protein food
• Snack items have to be less than or equal to 200 calories
• Entree items have to be less than or equal to 350 calories. 

Why are students having such a negative reaction to the school lunches? Well, just take a look at those guidelines. Instead of having to eat the food, students are starting to pack their own lunches which has definitely been noticed among the lunch room staff in Tea and Baltic South Dakota. In fact, to keep students from bringing their own lunch, the staff have started to get creative by bring changing the titles of lunches to something more enticing or even giving students dressing packets to go with their veggies. 

Child obesity is no doubt a problem among children, but is it really the school's responsibility to see that they don't "gain weight?" Sure, healthy items are great for students and definitely should be available to students. But, if they don't like it, they're not going to eat it. School's are responsible for children eight hours of the day. A child could eat healthy a couple of times during those eight hours but then once their home they're going straight for the good stuff. And by good stuff I mean junk food. 

Healthy options are great for students but these new guidelines are starting to look less "child friendly" and more like a bad diet craze.