Woodinville Parents: What do You Think of the State of School Lunches?

Concerns about the quality of food offered to students at public schools has been in question since the Regan administration proposed ketchup be classified as a vegetable back in 1981. Last year an educator in the Midwest gained national attention for spending a year eating school lunches and living to blog about the experience. Yet as study after study shows that obesity and diabetes are on the rise among America’s children, school lunches still appear to be a major source of salt, fat and sugar.

Here in Woodinville, the Northshore School District participates in the National School Lunch Program, which recently proposed changes limiting high fat foods such as French fries in favor of more healthy choices. Still, corndogs, teriyaki beef nuggets (what part of a cow is the nugget?), crispy fish burgers and dinosaur chicken nuggets (there’s that word again), are on the April menu for local elementary students. Are those government approved lunches contributing to the rise in obesity among kids?

Appalled at the food served to children at their schools, two local mothers just launched their , dedicated to creating fresh, healthy boxed lunches for kids. Last month Ela Cwalina and her friend, Redmond mom Karolina Janczuk, officially started MiniBento, a business dedicated to creating fresh boxed lunches for kids using all-natural ingredients. They hope their business will eventually give parents a more convenient alternative to home-packed lunches. The cost of each lunch is $6, but they only deliver to participating schools.

Then there is the principal in Chicago who was so concerned about the junk food many students were bringing from home in their brown bag lunches that she banned most lunches brought from home. The result? most kids now throw away the lunches claiming they taste bad.

What is your opinion? Is it government’s responsibility to provide a healthy lunch for kids at school? Should parents be packing their kid’s lunches? Should those brown bag lunches from home only contain healthy food?