Baseline findings from LAUSD middle school plate waste study

Background: The Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) has proactively adopted Institute of Medicine recommendations for healthier school lunches, including the provision of more fruits and vegetables, in part by providing more ethnically/culturally diverse plant-based foods. It also stopped serving flavored milk, serving only white milk. This study documents cross-time changes in fruit, vegetable, and milk intake as students become accustomed to the new school lunch menu.

Methods: A plate waste study featuring aggregate weighing of categorized food waste was conducted for five days each at four randomly selected LAUSD middle schools. Observational assessments captured student sex, ethnicity, and quantity of fruits, vegetables and milk left on their lunch trays.

Results: The 2,227 observations included 56% boys, 44% girls, 26% African Americans, 49% Latinos, 5% White, 4% Asian/PI, 7% Other. Per capita waste averaged 17 grams of fruit (and container), 19 grams of vegetable waste, and 83 grams of milk waste. Girls had less fruit waste than boys. Whites had less milk waste than African Americans but had more fruit waste than African Americans and Asian/PI students. When the fruit option consisted of juice, there was less fruit waste, and students chose fewer meal components. As vegetable choice increased, there was lower per capita vegetable waste but also lower student meal participation.

Conclusions: Getting middle school students to eat healthier requires attending to individual and cultural differences. Five month follow-up data will show whether fruit, vegetable and milk waste will decrease as students acclimate to the new LAUSD lunch menu.