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COPYRIGHT 2003 The Charlotte Observer
Byline: Pam Kelley
Sep. 27--In the war against childhood obesity, the school lunchroom is Bonnie Parker's battleground.
As child nutrition director for Union County Public Schools, Parker and her staff plot ways to get schoolkids to eat more fruits and vegetables, less fat and sugar. They serve restaurant-quality spinach salads and quietly replace hot dogs with turkey dogs. They search for kid-appealing products, such as fresh pineapple spears packaged like push-ups.
Increasingly, school food service officials are trying to overhaul lunch programs, blamed as contributing to the nation's obesity epidemic. Charlotte-Mecklenburg schools recently rolled out "Munch Boxes," healthy grab-and-go boxed lunches designed to attract children who regard Lunchables as fine cuisine. And more than 40 N.C. school districts now buy fresh produce from the state's farmers.
But the people trying to change school lunch menus are fighting a junk food culture that schools and school food services have aided and abetted. Many area schools -- especially high schools -- sell sodas and junk food outside the cafeteria to supplement their budgets. School food services, too, keep profits flowing by selling brand-name pizzas, french fries, snack cakes, high-sugar drinks.
There are other obstacles: Facing tight budgets, food services often serve processed foods over fresh choices that would require more labor to prepare. They also rely on free surplus farm products. Many food service directors say they're good products, but critics charge that the surplus foods make meals overly reliant on meat and dairy products.
Even laws occasionally work against efforts to serve healthy meals.
Health experts agree that school-age children should drink low-fat milk, but an old federal...
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