With school back in session across central Illinois, a dairy advocacy group is highlighting the evolution of the school lunch program since its inception in the 40s.

Monica Nyman with the St. Louis Dairy Council indicates it wasn’t until the Great Depression that the federal government became involved in schools. Using President Roosevelt’s New Deal, the government purchased surplus crops from farms and employed thousands of women to cook and serve these food items to hungry students. 

Nyman has been with the St. Louis Dairy Council for nearly a decade and explains the school lunch program has even changed rather drastically in that time as well. Based on the percentage of poverty in a district, schools will either be a part of the 'free or reduced' lunch program. She notes, most schools are a part of this. 

Components of the meal are carefully calculated to ensure schools are offering maximum nutrition while minimizing saturated fat, sugar, and sodium.  If a food item doesn’t meet the parameters, it is not allowed to be sold like an a la carte sale. Nyman points out local milk is served at schools, and many school meal programs focus on bringing in local, farm-fresh produce from school gardens or local farms.

Nyman points interested parents to look at their back-to-school nutrition parent information packets in hopes of getting kids excited about being back to school and encouraging them to have a milk carton with their lunch and a glass of milk with breakfast and dinner. You can find that resource at stldairycouncil.org.