Parents: School Food OK

By Daniel J. DeNoon
WebMD Health News Reviewed by Louise Chang, MD

Aug. 17, 2007 - Nearly two out of three parents say school cafeteria lunches are nutritious, a USAToday/Gallup Poll shows.

There were no children among the national sample of 1,012 Americans interviewed by telephone on Aug. 3-5, 2007. But there were 244 parents of children in kindergarten to 12th grade. The results for the parents have a margin of error of plus or minus 7 percentage points.

Only 27% of the parents found school lunches not too nutritious or not nutritious at all. Eleven percent had no opinion, and 63% found the lunches very nutritious or somewhat nutritious.

Parents split more evenly over whether schools offer too many foods that should not be served to children. Just less than half -- 48% -- said their kids school did not offer too many inappropriate foods, while 43% disagreed.

But when asked whether schools should serve more fresh fruits, vegetables, and whole-grain breads, 66% of parents said "yes."

The poll did not ask the parents whether they would swap lunches with their kids.

Vaccinations, developmental milestones, healthy eating. Keep your little ones safe and strong. Sign up for WebMD's Parenting and Children's Health newsletter.