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Schools are an important setting for addressing childhood obesity. A substantial portion of school-aged children’s daily food and caloric intake occurs within the school and after-school environment. About 30 million school-aged children consume school lunches every day, and almost 75% (21.8 million) of these children receive free or reduced-price lunches. Research in this area aims to understand how school and after-school food policies and environments can help improve the nutritional quality of the school meal environment, promote healthy weight status, and reduce nutritional disparities.
Research & Publications See all
March 2026
Associations Between the U.S. Department of Agriculture COVID-19 Pandemic Waivers and Summer Meal Programs Access and Participation: A Systematic Review
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Summer Meal Programs (SMPs) are funded to ensure children from households with low incomes continue to have access to food over the summer months when most schools are closed for instruction. However, these programs are underutilized compared with school meal programs, in part due to barriers to accessing SMPs. More
February 2026
Multi-Level Health Outcomes of Local Food Procurement in United States Farm-to-School Programs: A Systematic Review
Approximately 74% of schools in the United States participated in at least one farm-to-school (F2S) activity during the 2022 to 2023 school year. Relationships between specific F2S activities, particularly local food procurement, and health outcomes across multiple levels (individual, family, community, and population) have not been systematically reviewed and reported. This systematic review examined relationships More
December 2025
Perspectives on Messaging Strategies to Increase Participation in Universal Free School Meal Programs: A Qualitative Study With Parents of Elementary School-Aged Children
At least eight U.S. states currently offer universal free school meal programs, providing meals at no cost to all students regardless of household income. While marketing campaigns may help increase student participation, limited research has examined what message content and design most effectively motivate parents to encourage school meal use. This qualitative study explored parents’ More
December 2025
Impact of Deimplementing Universal Free School Meals: School Food Authority Perspectives
This study examined the impact of deimplementing universal free school meal (UFSM) policies compared with continuing UFSM at the state level. A cross-sectional survey was conducted in spring 2023 with 941 school food authorities (SFAs) across eight U.S. states, assessing outcomes such as meal participation, foodservice revenues, staffing needs, administrative burdens, stigma, and student meal More