School Meal Programs: Competitive Foods Are Available in Many	 
Schools; Actions Taken to Restrict Them Differ by State and	 
Locality (23-APR-04, GAO-04-673).				 
                                                                 
The nation faces a complex challenge in addressing recent trends 
in children's health and eating habits. To address these trends, 
in 2001, the U.S. Surgeon General issued a call to action to	 
prevent and decrease overweight and obesity among all Americans, 
especially children. In this statement, schools were identified  
as one of the key settings for public health strategies to	 
address these issues. The National School Lunch and School	 
Breakfast Programs provide millions of children with nutritious  
meals each school day. The United States Department of		 
Agriculture's (USDA) Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) administers
these programs at the federal level, and FNS subsidizes the meals
served through these programs in local schools as long as the	 
meals meet certain nutritional guidelines. In the last decade,	 
these nutritional guidelines were amended to require schools to  
serve meals that adhere to the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 
which limit total and saturated fat and provide specific minimum 
levels of vitamins and nutrients. Despite these efforts to	 
improve the nutritional quality of meals offered through the	 
school meal programs, other foods not provided through these	 
programs are often available to children at school through a la  
carte lines in the cafeteria where individual foods and beverages
can be purchased, snack shops, school stores, vending machines,  
and other venues. The nutritional value of these foods, often	 
referred to as competitive foods, is largely unregulated by the  
federal government. Because of its concern about the trends in	 
children's health and eating habits and interest in further	 
understanding issues related to competitive foods in schools,	 
Congress asked us to answer the following questions: (1) Which	 
foods and school food practices fall under the term competitive  
foods, and what federal restrictions exist on their sale? (2)	 
What is currently known about the types of competitive foods and 
their availability and prevalence in schools? (3) What is	 
currently known about additional steps that are being taken on	 
the state and local levels to curtail the sale of competitive	 
foods?								 
-------------------------Indexing Terms------------------------- 
REPORTNUM:   GAO-04-673 					        
    ACCNO:   A09841						        
  TITLE:     School Meal Programs: Competitive Foods Are Available in 
Many Schools; Actions Taken to Restrict Them Differ by State and 
Locality							 
     DATE:   04/23/2004 
  SUBJECT:   Children						 
	     Food programs for children 			 
	     Health hazards					 
	     Health statistics					 
	     Schools						 
	     Nutrition						 
	     National School Breakfast Program			 
	     National School Lunch Program			 

******************************************************************
** This file contains an ASCII representation of the text of a  **
** GAO Product.                                                 **
**                                                              **
** No attempt has been made to display graphic images, although **
** figure captions are reproduced.  Tables are included, but    **
** may not resemble those in the printed version.               **
**                                                              **
** Please see the PDF (Portable Document Format) file, when     **
** available, for a complete electronic file of the printed     **
** document's contents.                                         **
**                                                              **
******************************************************************
GAO-04-673

United States General Accounting Office

GAO

                       Report to Congressional Requesters

April 2004

SCHOOL MEAL PROGRAMS

Competitive Foods Are Available in Many Schools; Actions Taken to Restrict Them
                          Differ by State and Locality

GAO-04-673

Contents

                                    Letter 1

  Appendix I Briefing Slides

Abbreviations

CDC Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
FMNV foods of minimal nutritional value
FNS Food and Nutrition Service
SHPPS School Health Policies and Programs Study
SMI School Meals Implementation
SNDA-II School Nutrition Dietary Assessment Study-II 
USDA United States Department of Agriculture

This is a work of the U.S. government and is not subject to copyright
protection in the United States. It may be reproduced and distributed in
its entirety without further permission from GAO. However, because this
work may contain copyrighted images or other material, permission from the
copyright holder may be necessary if you wish to reproduce this material
separately.

United States General Accounting Office Washington, DC 20548

April 23, 2004

The Honorable Tom Harkin
Ranking Member
Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry
United States Senate

The Honorable Patrick J. Leahy
Ranking Member
Subcommittee on Research, Nutrition, and General Legislation
Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry
United States Senate

The Honorable George Miller
Ranking Member
Committee on Education and the Workforce
House of Representatives

The Honorable Lynn Woolsey
Ranking Member
Subcommittee on Education Reform
Committee on Education and the Workforce
House of Representatives

The nation faces a complex challenge in addressing recent trends in
children's health and eating habits. Data from the U.S. Centers for
Disease
Control and Prevention (CDC) have shown that over 15 percent of
children and adolescents ages 6 to 19 are overweight, a proportion that
has
significantly increased since the 1960s. In addition, CDC has also
reported
an increase in the frequency of type 2 diabetes in U.S. children and
adolescents over the last two decades. Trends in obesity and a low level
of
physical activity among children and adolescents may be a major
contributor to this increase.

To address these trends, in 2001, the U.S. Surgeon General issued a call
to
action to prevent and decrease overweight and obesity among all
Americans, especially children. In this statement, schools were identified
as one of the key settings for public health strategies to address these
issues. Since a large portion of a child's day is spent in school,
providing
children with healthy food options throughout the school day can be an
important step toward good child nutrition. The National School Lunch

and School Breakfast Programs provide millions of children with nutritious
meals each school day. The United States Department of Agriculture's
(USDA) Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) administers these programs at the
federal level, and FNS subsidizes the meals served through these programs
in local schools as long as the meals meet certain nutritional guidelines.
In the last decade, these nutritional guidelines were amended to require
schools to serve meals that adhere to the Dietary Guidelines for
Americans, which limit total and saturated fat and provide specific
minimum levels of vitamins and nutrients. Despite these efforts to improve
the nutritional quality of meals offered through the school meal programs,
other foods not provided through these programs are often available to
children at school through a la carte lines in the cafeteria where
individual foods and beverages can be purchased, snack shops, school
stores, vending machines, and other venues. The nutritional value of these
foods, often referred to as competitive foods, is largely unregulated by
the federal government.

Because of your concern about the trends in children's health and eating
habits and your interest in further understanding issues related to
competitive foods in schools, you asked us to answer the following
questions: (1) Which foods and school food practices fall under the term
competitive foods, and what federal restrictions exist on their sale? (2)
What is currently known about the types of competitive foods and their
availability and prevalence in schools? (3) What is currently known about
additional steps that are being taken on the state and local levels to
curtail the sale of competitive foods?

To answer your questions, we reviewed a variety of data sources, including
legislation, policies, and studies that address competitive foods in
schools. From these sources, we gathered information on federal and state
competitive foods laws and regulations. In addition, we analyzed data on
the availability, prevalence, and types of competitive foods in schools
provided in three national studies-the School Nutrition Dietary Assessment
Study-II, the School Health Policies and Programs Study of 2000, and the
Third Year Report of the School Meals Initiative Implementation Study. We
also reviewed several smaller-scale studies that address the association
between competitive foods in schools and child nutrition. We examined each
study to assess the adequacy of the samples and measures employed, the
reasonableness and rigor of the statistical techniques, and the validity
of the results that were drawn from the analyses. To supplement the
information collected from these sources and to gather information on
steps that have been taken at the local level to restrict competitive
foods in schools, we conducted interviews with

several professional organizations, advocacy groups, and other
stakeholders. We conducted our review from January through March 2004 in
accordance with generally accepted government auditing standards.

On April 12, 2004, we briefed interested Senate staff on the results of
our analysis. This report formally conveys the information provided during
that briefing. In summary, we reported that

o  	Competitive foods include all foods and beverages sold in schools
except for meals provided through the School Lunch and School Breakfast
Programs. Current federal regulations restrict only a subset of
competitive foods, foods of minimal nutritional value, from being sold
during mealtimes in food service areas.

o  	Competitive foods are sold in a variety of locations on a majority of
school campuses nationwide. The types of competitive foods available often
differ by location where they are sold, with healthy foods more often sold
in a la carte lines in the cafeteria and less healthy foods more often
sold through vending machines, school stores, canteens, and snack bars.

o  	Several states, school districts, and individual schools have enacted
competitive foods policies that are more restrictive than federal
regulations. These policies differ widely in the types of restrictions
they apply.

We provided a draft of this briefing to officials at FNS for their
technical comments and incorporated their comments where appropriate.

We are sending copies of this report to relevant congressional committees
and other interested parties and will make copies available to others upon
request. In addition, this report will be available on GAO's Web site at
http://www.gao.gov. If you or your staff have any questions about this
report, please contact me at (415) 904-2272 or Kay E. Brown at (202)
5123674. Rachel Weber, Kevin Jackson, and Dan Schwimer also made
significant contributions to this report.

David D. Bellis Director, Education, Workforce, and Income Security Issues

                          Appendix I: Briefing Slides

 School Meal Programs: Competitive Foods Are Available in Many Schools; Actions
              Taken to Restrict Them Differ by State and Locality

                                  Requested by
                       Senator Tom Harkin, Ranking Member
         U.S. Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry
                     Senator Patrick Leahy, Ranking Member
          Subcommittee on Research, Nutrition, and General Legislation

                  Representative George Miller, Ranking Member
              U.S. House Committee on Education and the Workforce
                  Representative Lynn Woolsey, Ranking Member
                        Subcommittee on Education Reform
                                 April 12, 2004

Related GAO Products

School Lunch Program: Efforts Needed to Improve Nutrition and Encourage
Healthy Eating. GAO-03-506. Washington, D.C.: May 9, 2003.

School Meal Programs: Revenue and Expense Information from Selected
States. GAO-03-569. Washington, D.C.: May 9, 2003.

Public Education: Commercial Activities in Schools. GAO/HEHS-00-156.
Washington, D.C.: September 8, 2000.

  GAO's Mission

Obtaining Copies of GAO Reports and Testimony

The General Accounting Office, the audit, evaluation and investigative arm
of Congress, exists to support Congress in meeting its constitutional
responsibilities and to help improve the performance and accountability of
the federal government for the American people. GAO examines the use of
public funds; evaluates federal programs and policies; and provides
analyses, recommendations, and other assistance to help Congress make
informed oversight, policy, and funding decisions. GAO's commitment to
good government is reflected in its core values of accountability,
integrity, and reliability.

The fastest and easiest way to obtain copies of GAO documents at no cost
is through the Internet. GAO's Web site (www.gao.gov) contains abstracts
and fulltext files of current reports and testimony and an expanding
archive of older products. The Web site features a search engine to help
you locate documents using key words and phrases. You can print these
documents in their entirety, including charts and other graphics.

Each day, GAO issues a list of newly released reports, testimony, and
correspondence. GAO posts this list, known as "Today's Reports," on its
Web site daily. The list contains links to the full-text document files.
To have GAO e-mail this list to you every afternoon, go to www.gao.gov and
select "Subscribe to e-mail alerts" under the "Order GAO Products"
heading.

Order by Mail or Phone 	The first copy of each printed report is free.
Additional copies are $2 each. A check or money order should be made out
to the Superintendent of Documents. GAO also accepts VISA and Mastercard.
Orders for 100 or more copies mailed to a single address are discounted 25
percent. Orders should be sent to:

U.S. General Accounting Office 441 G Street NW, Room LM Washington, D.C.
20548

To order by Phone: 	Voice: (202) 512-6000 TDD: (202) 512-2537 Fax: (202)
512-6061

To Report Fraud,	Contact: Web site: www.gao.gov/fraudnet/fraudnet.htm

  Waste, and Abuse in E-mail: [email protected]

Federal Programs Automated answering system: (800) 424-5454 or (202)
512-7470

Jeff Nelligan, Managing Director, [email protected] (202) 512-4800

Public Affairs 	U.S. General Accounting Office, 441 G Street NW, Room 7149
Washington, D.C. 20548
*** End of document. ***