The Relationship between School Infrastructure and School Nutrition Program Participation and Policies in New York City

Melissa Pflugh Prescott (), Judith A. Gilbride, Sean Corcoran, Brian Elbel, Kathleen Woolf, Roland O. Ofori and Amy Schwartz
Additional contact information
Melissa Pflugh Prescott: Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 539 Bevier Hall, 905 S. Goodwin Ave., Urbana, IL 61801, USA
Judith A. Gilbride: Department of Nutrition and Food Studies, Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development, New York University, 411 Lafayette Street, 5th Floor, New York, NY 10003, USA
Brian Elbel: Department of Population Health, Grossman School of Medicine, New York University, 227 East 30th Street, New York, NY 10016, USA
Kathleen Woolf: Department of Nutrition and Food Studies, Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development, New York University, 411 Lafayette Street, 5th Floor, New York, NY 10003, USA
Roland O. Ofori: Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 539 Bevier Hall, 905 S. Goodwin Ave., Urbana, IL 61801, USA

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 15, 1-12

Abstract: School nutrition programs (SNP) provide much needed access to fruits, vegetables, and other healthy foods at low or no cost. Yet, the infrastructure of school kitchens and cafeteria vary across schools, potentially contributing to systematic barriers for SNP operation and equity. The purpose of this paper is to examine the association between school infrastructure and outcomes including meal participation, untraditional lunch periods, and having an open campus. Regression analyses were conducted using administrative data for 1804 schools and school nutrition manager survey data ( n = 821) in New York City (NYC). Co-location was significantly associated with open campus status (OR = 2.84, CI: 1.11, 7.26) and high school breakfast participation (β = −0.056, p = 0.003). Overcrowding was associated with breakfast (elementary: β = −0.046, p = 0.03; middle: β = 0.051, p = 0.04; high: β = 0.042, p = 0.04) and lunch participation (elementary: β = −0.031, p = 0.01) and untraditional lunchtimes (elementary: OR = 2.47, CI: 1.05, 5.83). Higher enrollment to cafeteria capacity ratios was associated with breakfast (elementary: β = −0.025, p = 0.02) and lunch (elementary: β = −0.015, p = 0.001; high: β = 0.014, p = 0.02) participation and untraditional lunchtimes (middle: OR = 1.66, CI: 1.03, 2.68). Infrastructure characteristics are an important source of variation across NYC schools that may hinder the equity of school nutrition programs across the city.

Keywords: school nutrition programs; meal participation; untraditional lunch periods; open campus; co-location; overcrowding; cafeteria infrastructure; kitchen infrastructure (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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