Demographic and financial characteristics of school districts with low and high a la carte sales in rural Kansas public schools.

摘要

Reducing a la carte items in schools - foods and beverages sold outside the reimbursable meals program - can have important implications for childhood obesity. However, schools are reluctant to reduce a la carte offerings because of the impact these changes could have on revenue. Some foodservice programs operate with limited a la carte sales, but little is known about these programs. This secondary data analysis compared rural and urban/suburban school districts with low and high a la carte sales. Foodservice financial records (2007-2008) were obtained from the Kansas State Department of Education for all public K-12 school districts (n=302). chi 2 and t tests were used to examine the independent association of variables to a la carte sales. A multivariate model was then constructed of the factors most strongly associated with low a la carte sales. In rural districts with low a la carte sales, lunch prices and participation were higher, lunch costs and a la carte quality were lower, and fewer free/reduced price lunches were served compared to rural districts with high a la carte sales. Lunch price (odds ratio=1.2; 95% confidence interval, 1.1 to 1.4) and free/reduced price lunch participation (odds ratio=3.0; 95% confidence interval, 1.0 to 9.8) remained in the multivariate model predicting low a la carte sales. No differences were found between urban/suburban districts with low and high a la carte sales. Findings highlight important factors to maintaining low a la carte sales. Schools should consider raising lunch prices and increasing meal participation rates as two potential strategies for reducing the sale of a la carte items without compromising foodservice revenue.Digital Object Identifier http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jada.2011.03.017