Comparing School Lunches and Prison Food Research Paper

Comparing School Lunches and Prison Food - Research Paper Example The provision of free and reduced-cost meals to children has been the main focus for this.The nutrition status of the food provided to the children had not been the main focus until recently when the current first lady, Michelle Obama guided the improvement of the feeding program by improving the nutrition status. Over 90% of school going children in the US, both in public and nonprofit private schools participate in the lunch program. The nutrition offered to the children helps promote their health as well as their intellectual capacity to attend to academic tasks. The focus on improving nutrition at school level came following a realization that schools are unique in shaping behavior. This, therefore, means that they offer the best environment to promote healthy eating behaviors. Whereas the major stakeholders, including the parents, health, and nutrition experts as well as the authorities are optimistic about the program, most children are not. Their main concern among the students is the presumed similarity between the school lunch and the food offered in the federal prisons. The amount of food served in schools and that in prison lunch is almost the same. This is based on the number of calories that each of the servings contains. For the prison food, the average number of calories is 1400 which is less than the normal requirement for the adults. Over 90% of school going children in the US, both in public and nonprofit private schools participate in the lunch program. The nutrition offered to the children helps