This study examines the cost of producing National School Lunch Program and School Breakfast Program meals during school year 2005-06. It measures both reported costs – costs charged directly to school food service accounts – and unreported costs – those costs paid by school districts in support of school food authority operations – to estimate the full cost of meal production.
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.