This report summarizes findings of the second School Nutrition Dietary Assessment Study. The study provides up-to-date information on the nutritional quality of meals served in public schools that participate in the National School Lunch Program and the School Breakfast Program.

This report is the first of two reports on the nutrition of children using findings from the analysis of the 1994-1996 Continuing Survey of Food Intake by Individuals. The key objectives of the overall study are to describe the diets of school-aged U.S. children as of the mid-1990s, examine relationships between children’s participation in the school meal programs and their dietary intake, and examine changes in intake between the periods 1989-1991 and 1994-1996. 

This study provides national estimates of the food acquisitions of public unified school districts participating in the National School Lunch Program and School Breakfast Program. It describes the type, quantity, and value of foods purchased by public school districts and the relative importance of foods donated to these school districts by the USDA,

The analysis conducted in this study builds on these two strands of the literature and uses three alternate definitions of breakfast: Consumption of any food or beverage. Breakfast intake of food energy greater than 10 percent of the Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA). Consumption of foods from at least two of five main food groups and intake of food energy greater than 10 percent of the RDA.