School Lunches Stack Up to First Lady’s Standards

Ten years ago, vending machines in Silver Spring schools carried Hawaiian Punch, Doritos and Coca Cola. Pizza and chicken nuggets were popular meal options.  And if you were still hungry, you could pick up a Haagen-Dazs ice cream bar.

"You will never see that now during the school day," said Marla Caplon, director of the Division of Food & Nutrition Services for Montgomery County Public Schools.

Everything in vending machines now adheres to county guidelines.

"Our chips are single serving and low fat variety," she added.

Machines that do not offer healthy snacks are shut down and turned on after school hours.

These changes, along with fresh fruit and vegetable choices and salad entrees at every meal, are a part of a wellness policy adopted by the Board of Education in April 2006.

In fact, long before First Lady Michelle Obama announced her "Let's Move Campaign!" aimed at ending childhood obesity, Montgomery County was proactive in creating healthier lunchroom options, something that the First Lady personally witnessed when she visited New Hampshire Estates Elementary School in May.

"She was impressed," Caplon said. "She sat down and ate broccoli with the Head Start students."

Obama's recommendations include an increase in fruits and vegetables and fewer fatty foods — both of which the county has implemented.

"Our meal programs have been ahead of this for many years," Caplon said. However, she acknowledged that "this initiative reaches areas of the country that this is all new to."

In addition to adding fruits, vegetables and salads to meals, the county has also replaced 1 percent milk with non-fat chocolate and strawberry flavors, added whole grain to pizza crusts and hot dog and hamburger buns, eliminated artificial trans fat and expanded the number of schools participating in the After School Snack Program and Maryland Meals for Achievement (universal breakfast program).

Everything meets current USDA guidelines and the Dietary Guidelines for Americans.

"We don't want snacks to be more than 240 mg of sodium per serving," said Lesli Maxwell, a spokeswoman for Montgomery County Public Schools.

Nutritional information is also included on lunch menus that are given to elementary school students.