The National School Lunch Program: A “Measure of National Security”
Nutritional Negligence Depletes America's Military
Throughout World War II (1941-1945), America’s fighting force was compromised by the consequences of malnutrition. Preventable nutrition-related health issues, such as rickets, significantly reduced the number of men eligible for active military service. In order to avoid a similar situation in the future, President Truman signed the National School Lunch Act as “a measure of national security” on June 4, 1946. This act created the National School Lunch Program, which was designed to enhance the nutritional status of children from low-income families and to make better use of surplus agricultural products (31).
Left: The Lunch Line at Kaegebein Elementary School, New York, 1956. from Teddy Linenfelser
In addition to authorizing the National School Lunch Program, the National School Lunch Act also created new job opportunities for women.
The N.S.L.P. Today: A Security Threat?
Throughout the Second Industrial Revolution, American children were diagnosed with nutrient deficiencies. During this time, reformers such as Richards, developed school lunch programs to help improve children’s health. Today in the post-digital revolution era, America’s youth are being diagnosed with a different form of malnourishment: obesity. As a result, the National School Lunch Program is no longer an effective “security measure” against malnourishment because it has been undermined by the food industry’s unhealthy products. While many claim that this issue can be fixed by simply banning junk food from school campuses, Marion Nestle, an expert on food policy and author of Food Politics (2003), argues that this is actually a highly unrealistic option. Schools sell popular and often unhealthy name-brand food items to supplement the inadequate funding they receive from the government. This extra revenue not only lessens the financial burden placed upon schools, but it also allows the government to justify further reducing its role as the financial benefactor of the American education system. Therefore, it is immensely unlikely that the government will willingly ban the sale of junk food in schools because it would then be forced to reassume more of the economic responsibility for funding education in this nation (26). Schools should not wait for day that the government outlaws junk food on academic campuses. Instead, they should voluntarily distance themselves from companies that produce soft-drinks and snacks and forge new partnerships with health conscious corporations, local farmers, and local businesses, just as the Boston school district did in the 1890s.
