Survey Criticizes School Cafeterias

The Los Angeles Unified School District’s cafeterias have been rated the second-worst among the nation’s large school systems by a group of physicians who advocate vegetarianism as the healthiest nutrition option.

Only Chicago public schools rated lower than Los Angeles in the availability of healthy, low-fat menus in the study of 20 districts by the Washington D.C.-based Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine.

School district administrators attacked the validity of the study and the stature of its authors. The same advocacy group had previously ranked Los Angeles International Airport first for healthful meals in a study of major airports.

“I think it’s a gross bending of the facts to call this a study,” said Warren Lund, director of the district’s food services branch, which oversees the serving of more than 700,000 meals daily. “This group is not recognized by any major nutrition group and . . . I have a feeling they rated [schools] on how many vegetarian items are being served, which is not necessarily a measure of healthiness.”

Those who work most closely with efforts to provide healthy food for the poor also questioned whether the organization’s emphasis on low-fat diets was a valid criterion for those children who may depend on the school lunch as their only daily meal.

More than 70% of the children who eat lunches in Los Angeles public schools are considered poor enough to receive free or reduced-price lunches.

“There’s been a huge debate on the fat issue in the school lunch over the past few years,” said Marion Standish, a spokeswoman for California Food Policy Advocates, which works to improve the nutrition available to poor families. “For kids who have their dietary needs taken care of at school, they could take advantage of a little more fat than would otherwise be recommended.”

The director of the physicians’ study, Dr. Andrew Nicholson, stood behind his group’s findings, which he said were based on menus and nutritional analyses supplied by the districts themselves. But he acknowledged that his organization has aggressively lobbied for the redefinition of the four food groups to reflect “a plant-based diet”--fruits, vegetables, grains and beans.

In the past, the group has campaigned against drinking milk and publicized the refusal of two large Midwest newspapers to accept its paid advertisements touting the benefits of vegetarianism and mentioning “mad cow disease.”

“Essentially our study was designed to assess the availability of healthy options at schools, [and] we all know about the health value of fruits and vegetables,” Nicholson said.

Not only did Los Angeles fare poorly in terms of such fresh foods, he said, but “it does not have any daily option of plant-based meal and it does not even provide those options on demand. . . . It’s only available if you get a physician’s note.”

Lund confirmed that a doctor’s note is required for special all-vegetarian meals, but added that non-meat side dishes are on every menu.

The advocacy group concluded that the healthiest meals were served by Miami’s Dade County Public School District, where menus included daily offerings of low-fat vegetable salads, fruit plates and a vegetarian lunch entree.

New York City, the only district in the country larger than Los Angeles Unified, came in second. Nicholson said that was partly because the district provides salad bars in all secondary schools.

Los Angeles has very few salad bars, acknowledged senior nutrition specialist Laura Chinnock. “If we have to serve 1,000 kids in 30 minutes, we can’t do a salad bar,” she said.

But Chinnock said schools serve fresh fruits and vegetables--instead of canned or frozen--at least once a week. And as awareness of the importance of cutting down on fat content has increased, the district has substituted turkey for beef in many dishes, she said.

The menus evaluated by the advocacy group included such fare as a bean and cheese burrito and roasted chicken with corn bread. None exceed the federally recommended daily maximum of 30% fat.

Cafeteria watchdogs at the state Department of Education confirmed that Los Angeles Unified has worked hard to provide healthier food and received a generally glowing review last year, the last time the district’s cafeterias were surveyed.

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School Food

A physicians’ group evaluated menus from the nation’s largest public school systems, along with a few smaller districts, based on the availability of varied, low-fat, vegetarian meals. Here are the top five and the bottom five in the survey of 20:

1. Dade County (Miami)

2. New York City

3. Houston

4. Atlanta

5. Charlotte, N.C.

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15. Austin, Tex.

16. San Francisco

17. Cleveland, Ohio

18. Washington, D.C.

19. Los Angeles

20. Chicago

Source: Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, 1996

L.A. Lunches

The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine rated the Los Angeles Unified School District based on three sample lunches from elementary school menus.

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Menus Nutritional analysis Roasted chicken, 1 drumstick and 1 thigh Calories: 689 Cornbread Fat: 30% Hot vegetable Fresh apple Milk * Cheese pizza Calories: 680 Green salad Fat: 26% Diced Pears (canned) Milk * Bean and cheese burrito Calories: 518 Raw vegetables Fat: 22% Fresh orange Milk

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Source: Los Angeles Unified School District, Food Services Branch, 1996