Role of the child nutrition commodities program in creating healthy school meals: What are the policy opportunities?

Schools see the Child Nutrition Commodity Program (CNCP) as essential to providing school meals, but very little is known about commodities' contribution to the nutritional quality of school meals and the policies that govern the administration of the CNCP. In 2006, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation provided a grant to California Food Policy Advocates and Samuels & Associates to examine how the commodities program influences school efforts to address student health, and the existence of any opportunities for state and federal level policy changes to the program that might address school meal quality.

This multi-method research project employed: a) a review of research, news, and opinion pieces conducted on commodities in schools, b) nutritional analyses of commodities offered to, and ordered by schools, c) stakeholder interviews of federal, state, and local officials and administrators of the commodity program, and d) focus groups of school food service directors.

Nutritional analysis revealed that high-calorie meats and cheeses were the most prevalent commodity products purchased by schools from USDA. Other findings revealed a number of promising policy strategies for improving the administration of the CNCP and the quality of the foods offered in the program.

These policy strategies were shared at a convening of policymakers, federal and state commodity experts, and school nutrition advocates, who used the research findings to develop state-level policy solutions to improve school meals. The findings from this research and the policies that emerged could have a significant impact on other states' efforts to offer students more nutritious meals.