Impact of nutrition standards on competitive food quality in Massachusetts middle and high schools

M.T. Gorski, J.F.W. Cohen, J.A. Hoffman, L. Rosenfeld, R. Chaffee, Lones Smith and E.B. Rimm

American Journal of Public Health, 2016, vol. 106, issue 6, 1101-1108

Abstract: Objectives. To examine changes in competitive foods (items sold in à la carte lines, vending machines, and school stores that "compete" with school meals) in Massachusetts middle and high schools before and after implementation of a statewide nutrition law in 2012. Methods. We photographed n = 10 782 competitive foods and beverages in 36 Massachusetts school districts and 7 control state districts to determine availability and compliance with the law at baseline (2012), 1 year (2013), and 2 years (2014) after the policy (overall enrollment: 71 202 students). We examined availability and compliance trends over time. Results. By 2014, 60% of competitive foods and 79% of competitive beverages were compliant. Multilevel models showed an absolute 46.2% increase for foods (95% confidence interval = 36.2, 56.3) and 46.8% increase for beverages (95% confidence interval = 39.2, 54.4) in schools' alignment with updated standards from 2012 to 2014. Conclusions. The law's implementation resulted in major improvements in the availability and nutritional quality of competitive foods and beverages, but schools did not reach 100% compliance. This law closely mirrors US Department of Agriculture Smart Snacks in School standards, suggesting that complying with strict nutrition standards is feasible, and schools may experience challenges and improvements over time.

Keywords: agriculture; beverage; confidence interval; controlled study; food quality; high school; human; major clinical study; Massachusetts; nutritional value; statistical model; student; beverage; catering service; food; government; legislation and jurisprudence; Massachusetts; nutrition policy; nutritional status; school; standards; statistics and numerical data; United States, Beverages; Food; Food Quality; Food Services; Humans; Massachusetts; Nutrition Policy; Nutritional Status; Schools; United States; United States Department of Agriculture (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:aph:ajpbhl:10.2105/ajph.2016.303139_7

DOI: 10.2105/AJPH.2016.303139

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