Salad Bars in 5,000 Public Schools

(Washington) Tomorrow, First Lady Michelle Obama will reportedly announce an initiative to place 5,000 salad bars in public school cafeterias nationwide.

Officials in the White House, led by chef Sam Kass, and at the U.S. Centers for Disease and Prevention, have been working to build a coalition representing the produce industry and Ann Cooper, director of nutrition services in Boulder, Colo. schools, who recently teamed with Whole Foods to raise $1.4 million from customers to establish a grant program that would place salad bars in qualifying schools.

Under the initiative expected to be announced on Monday in Florida, where First Lady Michelle Obama has taken her "Let's Move" campaign to fight childhood obesity, Cooper would manage applications for salad bars from the schools along with distribution of funds to purchase necessary equipment.

Problems are anticipated and some school systems have already indicated that they won't participate due to health concerns about children spreading disease because they are too short for standard "sneeze guards."

The salad bar scheme will be in accordance with U.S. Department of Agriculture rules.

School menu planners must tell students the minimum amounts they must take from salad bars, cashiers "must be trained to judge accurately the quantities of self-service items," and point-of-sale registers "must be stationed after the salad bar."

Cooper has previously said USDA rules too often "don't work on the ground" and that forcing students to double back and pass a checkpoint after they've been to the salad bar "slows everything down."

Also, the CDC was trying to determine how local health inspectors might pass judgment on salad bars scattered across the country and what federal health requirements they might apply.

I am skeptical. I once saw a kid exercise his preferences at a salad bar and he chose a slice of watermelon and a plate full of bacon bits. If the schools are going to implement the scheme, they will likely need an adult over each kid's shoulder.

Companion post at TJR.