Background: State laws and farm-to-school programs (FTSPs) have the potential to increase fruit and vegetable (FV) availability in school meals. This study examined whether FV were more available in public elementary school lunches in states with a law requiring/encouraging FTSPs or with a locally grown-related law, and whether the relationship…

Purpose/Objectives: The purposes of this study were to: 1) analyze beverage selections of elementary students consuming National School Lunch Program meals (NSLP) and lunches brought from home (LBFH), 2) compare overall meal quality (MQ) of NSLP and LBFH by food components using Healthy Eating Index 2010 (HEI-2010), and 3) investigate the impact…

Purpose/Objectives: This study compares the mean nutrients selected and consumed in National School Lunch Program (NSLP) meals before and after implementation of the new nutrition standards mandated by the Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010 (HHFKA) in July 2012. Four elementary schools achieving Healthier US Schools Challenge awards serving…

Background: Farm-to-School programs (FTSPs) connect schools with locally grown food. This article examines whether FTSPs are more common in public elementary schools (ESs) in states with a formal, FTSP law or with a related, locally grown procurement law. Methods: A pooled, cross-sectional analysis linked nationally representative samples of 1872…