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The home for VPR's coverage of health and health industry issues affecting the state of Vermont.

Lunch With A Side Of Policy: The Role Of School Meals In Nutrition And Education

Vermont Public | By Jane Lindholm,

Matthew F Smith

Published February 4, 2019 at 2:24 PM EST

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A lunch from Crossett Brook Middle School in Duxbury features whole-grain spaghetti with meat sauce, local apple, salad, broccoli, and a roll.

Vermont Agency of Education

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A school meal from Vergennes Union High School features crispy chicken, Asian noodle salad, honey-glazed carrots, zucchini and a whole grain roll.

Vermont Agency of Education

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A meal from Springfield High School features a chicken quesadilla on a whole-grain tortilla, salad, steamed carrots and daikon radishes, apples and carrot sticks.

Vermont Agency of Education

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At Hardwick Elementary School, a salad bar offers multiple fruits and vegetables.

Vermont Agency of Education

Vermont schools offer free or reduced-cost meals to thousands of students every day. But how did schools become the venue to enact food policy? We're looking at school meal programs and the role they play in nutrition and education in school today.

"Taco Tuesday" at Putney Central School offers beef tacos with New England beef, Cabot sour cream, Thomas Dairy milk, salad with garbanzo beans, brown rice, carrots and celery sticks.

Rosie Krueger, assistant director of Child Nutrition Programs at the Vermont Agency of Education, discusses federal guidelines behind the free and reduced-price meals and how the meals are implemented across Vermont.

Anore Horton, executive director at Hunger Free Vermont, explains the history of school meal programs dating back to the 1940s and the group's advocacy to expand those meal programs today.

And Kathy Alexander, director of school nutrition for both the Mount Abraham Unified School District and the Addison Northwest School District, shares what it's like to write menus, order food and train staff to meet the nutritional needs of students in 2019.

Broadcast live on Tuesday, Feb. 5, 2019 at noon; rebroadcast at 7 p.m.