This report is the second of two reports on the nutrition of children using findings from the analysis of the 1989-1991 and 1994-1996 panels of the Continuing Survey of Food Intakes by Individuals. The key objectives of the overall study are to describe the diets of school-aged children in the United States 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 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. 

The National School Lunch Program and the School Breakfast Program are central parts of a national policy designed to safeguard the nutritional well-being of the Nation’s children. Despite the progress that has been achieved over the years in enhancing the quality of school meals, results of research conducted in the early 1990s indicated that school meals, on balance, were not meeting certain key nutritional goals. 

The NSLP offers free and reduced-price school meals to students from eligible households. Households with incomes at or below 130 percent of poverty are eligible for free meals, and households with incomes between 131 percent and 185 percent of poverty are eligible for reduced-price meals. Traditionally, to receive these benefits, households had to complete and submit application forms to schools or be directly certified. Direct certification, on the other hand, is a method of eligibility determination that does not require families to complete school meal applications. Instead, school officials use documentation from the local or state welfare agency that indicates that a household participates in AFDC or food stamps as the basis for certifying students for free school meals.

The National School Lunch Program operates in over 94,000 schools and institutions. More than 26 million children receive meals through the program on any given day; about half of these meals are provided free of charge. The School Breakfast Program operates in approximately two-thirds of the schools and institutions that offer the NSLP, most commonly in schools that serve large numbers of economically disadvantaged children. 

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. 

This study compares the nutrients provided in school meals and the nutrients consumed by students with several standards.

Prior to 1982, school districts were not required to verify the income or household size declared by households that applied for meal benefits. It was assumed that households were correctly reporting their income, and children from households that applied and declared a sufficiently Low income were given free or reduced-price meals. From 1982 to the present, the verification of household income for at least some of the approved application s for meal benefits has been part of each school district's responsibilities.