WASHINGTON, D.C.—New school lunch rules mean some students are eating more fruits and vegetables, even while tossing plenty of apples and carrots in the trash, a new study shows.
But the waste is nothing new and the increased fruit and vegetable consumption found at four urban schools is an encouraging sign, say researchers from the Harvard School of Public Health reporting Tuesday in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.
While the study is limited to 1,030 students at low-income elementary and middle schools in the Boston area, it is the first to track student trays from the lunch line to the trash can since new standards from the U.S. Department of Agriculture went into effect in 2012.