Lunch period is supposed to be a time for students to eat well and for the most part nutritionally.

That hasn't been the case at Slatington Elementary, where students often choose to throw away their food rather than eat it.A visit to the school's cafeteria during lunch period recently revealed a mixed bag.On the cafeteria's menu for the day was Salisbury steak, whipped potatoes, carrot coins, and a choice of strawberries, slushy, fruit cocktail or juice.While he ate his food, fourth-grader Trenton Cole said it was "kind of" OK.Trenton, 9, said he enjoys the cafeteria's pizza.Fourth-grade classmate Zoe Haines spoke of one of her favorite foods to eat."I think the chicken nuggets taste like restaurant ones," said Zoe, 9. "I usually enjoy them."While encouraging, it appears as though Trenton and Zoe may have been the exception, rather than the rule.Obesity or starvationThe matter has become such an issue that Sue Bahnick, director of food services in the Northern Lehigh School District, decided to take it a step further.Joined by Maggie Lynch, a Cedar Crest Dietetic intern, Bahnick recently met with U.S. Congressman Charlie Dent in Slatington to discuss the issue."In this country, we have one-third of children that suffer from obesity, and we have one-fifth of children going to bed hungry at night due to starvation," Bahnick said. "Both are forms of malnutrition."While it's the district's job to make sure children eat a nutritionally sound meal, Bahnick said it's not nearly as important if the children choose not to eat it.Bahnick associates the problem with what she called the tight restraints that the Healthy Hunger Free Kids Act has placed upon school districts across the country.The constraints have forced the district to serve foods that the majority of its student population doesn't like, Bahnick said."The concept of the HHFKA is great; however, the program got way too restricted, and is now costing us operators more money to prepare the meals and see much more waste," she said. "In addition, we are all losing money in the Smart Snacks, which is the extra items they can purchase."For instance, Bahnick said the vegetables served to students are broken into subgroups, and schools are specifically told what items they can choose. The subgroups are red/orange, dark green, beans, other and starchy, she said.The dark greens list items such as collard greens, turnip greens, bok choy, mesclun, Bahnick said."For that fact, the only dark greens we serve and our students enjoy is broccoli, romaine lettuce and spinach," she said. "So, when we serve that every week, it gets repetitious, and other green vegetables that they would eat (such as) lima beans, green beans, cucumbers, green peppers, iceberg, zucchini, all count as the other subgroup and can only be served once a week as well, but they cannot count as a dark green."The bean subgroup is another area that is difficult for the district, Bahnick said."We have tried hummus, three-bean salad, bean salsa, chili, none of which are popular items," she said. "The one they will eat is a baked bean."Bahnick added, "When you open a restaurant, you look at the demographics in the area, so you know what type of audience you have out there to patronize your business. We are from a predominantly Pennsylvania Dutch community, so beans are not something this area is accustomed to."What makes matters worse, Bahnick said, is that the district is mandated to serve 100 percent whole grain.More money, more waste"This not only costs more money to do, but also hurts our sales (participation) because the students don't like 100 percent whole grain," she said. "They don't mind breads, rice, even pretzels, but the pizza, pastas are not popular."Instead, Bahnick wonders why schools can't follow the American Dietary Guidelines, which asks Americans to incorporate 50 percent of their grains to whole grains.Bahnick said she believes she can pinpoint the problem."The whole program was rolled out way too quickly; too fast for the manufacturers to keep up," she said. "So, they are still trying to catch up."Bahnick said sodium was also discussed.Currently, the district is mandated to serve less than 1230 mg to 1420 mg of sodium, which she said is a reasonable amount.However; the final target for the 2022-2023 school year will be restricted to less than 640-740mg, which Bahnick said is "incredibly tough for our manufacturers to find a good quality product that we can serve in these incredibly strict guidelines.""Our biggest problems is student dissatisfaction, which results in less participation," she said."Waste, whether it is because they did not take it or they did not like it; either way, front of the house or back of the house, it creates a lot of waste."On a final note, Bahnick said they discussed that the district would like to see a compromise."Northern Lehigh has a strong population that depends on our meals," she said."Sometimes, it might be their only meal in a day. So we are hoping that the government can perhaps find additional funding for healthier meals, allow us the flexibility to provide fruits and vegetables that are in season and that we know the kids will eat and enjoy, making sure the meal that we serve is nutritionally sound. The Congressman said he would rather they eat what they like and have it be nutritious then not eat at all or throw it away."Bahnick said, "We would also like to see more emphasis on education, as well as the importance of physical activity. So the students learn for a lifetime rather than just having it pushed on them."She said Dent asked a lot of questions, and was knowledgeable about the program and very supportive.Dent did share some obstacles he deals with in Washington, but does believe there needs to be compromise, Bahnick said."The children of Slatington don't have the same tastes (as) the children down south, or California," she said."We can't get every kid to eat the same thing. We certainly can introduce them, but can't force it."