School Lunches Research Paper

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Everyone has experienced a bad lunch. Lunches can be unhealthy, but that is a person’s decision. Students in public schools are sometimes forced to eat the lunch in the school cafeteria due to financial reasons, but public school lunches are not considered the healthiest. Arkansas has been known to serve unhealthy school lunches. Arkansas public school students are not receiving healthy lunches because public schools do not follow the federal guidelines; therefore, it is important that these institutions provide healthier lunches to promote health and wellness for this population. Arkansas public schools fail to promote healthy eating habits. Students are able to choose a meal of their choice, two sides, vegetables, two cups of fruit, and…show more content…
Food poisoning is a major issue in public school lunches. Not all lunch personnel are able to cook meat at the right temperature, causing meals to be at a vulnerable state for bacteria. Vegetables are not the only colorful items on the menu. The hotdog’s color varies from red, brown, green, pink and purple. One teacher decided to keep a hotdog in a container for approximately five years to review the general outcome of the meat product. A student of his claimed, “The hotdog shrunk from its regular size to an inch long Vienna sausage you could bang on the wall. It also turned hard as a rock you could take an eye out with” (Smith). I could not even imagine what happens during the digestive process. Another event Smith explained was about an unexpected surprise in the food. “She found a huge cockroach in her bread roll. It was baked into the bread and served with butter” (Smith). This confirms the carelessness of cafeteria personnel. Some may say that cockroaches contain nutrients, but they are also one of the most disgusting and dirties insects. One out of the 23 lunches I receive monthly, a strand of hair was found in the food. Students are appalled by the sight of hair and throw away their food causing them to lose their daily nutrition requirements. Students have also found bones in burgers and crunchy unidentified solids in soft foods. It is disgusting to find such items in…show more content…
People usually have two different meal options to decide from, but that’s not always the case. For example, some students are allergic to pork and the school has the audacity to serve ham sandwiches in one line and a hotdog in the other lunch line. One student was forced to eat the food that could potentially poison her in order to function for the rest of the day. At the beginning of the year the school asks us about our allergies, but the public school system doesn’t seem to take it into consideration when it comes to food allergies. With these unhealthy causes, there are dangerous lifelong consequences. Excess food over the 2,000 recommended calories will lead to weight gain which can also lead to obesity and diabetes. Lunch room food has not been up to par in the recent years. Students seem to be better off bringing their own lunches. According to Reader’s Digest, “Children who regularly ate school lunches were 29 percent more likely to be obese than their peers who brought lunch from home” (Reader’s

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