This story about the
spectacular failure of new, healthier school lunches from the
Los Angeles Times is getting a lot of play. As you might
might expect (but the school district apparently didn’t)
16-year-olds who have previously been on all-pizza diets aren’t
necessarily going to dive right in to heaping helpings of quinoa
salad:

Many of the meals are being rejected en masse. Participation in
the school lunch program has dropped by thousands of students.
Principals report massive waste, with unopened milk cartons and
uneaten entrees being thrown away. Students are ditching lunch, and
some say they’re suffering from headaches, stomach pains and even
anemia. At many campuses, an underground market for chips, candy,
fast-food burgers and other taboo fare is thriving….

Iraides Renteria and Mayra Gutierrez don’t even bother to line
up. Iraides said the school food previously made her throw up, and
Mayra calls it “nasty, rotty stuff.” So what do they eat? The
juniors pull three bags of Flamin’ Hot Cheetos and soda from their
backpacks.

“This is
our daily lunch,” Iraides says. “We’re eating more junk food now
than last year.”

School lunch is a reasonable place for do-gooders to try to
introduce healthy habits (taking the existence of public schools,
federal school lunch programs, etc. as givens). But this is a
classic study in the unintended consequences for “for your own
good” policies. 

Via
Wonkblog.