Organic Food for Thought

Not everyone thinks that the current wave of corporate interest is purely about the children. Marion Nestle, a professor of nutrition, food studies, and public health at New York University, is skeptical about the Whole Foods initiative calling it a public-relations ploy. "I think most schools know exactly what to do, they just don't have the money to do it," Nestle said. And even Whole Foods' customers are skeptical about the plan. In a comment on the Whole Foods official blog, "The Whole Story," one commenter wrote: "There is a massive problem with our school meals. I agree. But I doubt Whole Foods is going to make much contribution to this problem with fleecing their customers for website funding."

The premium supermarket chain could indeed use some good PR these days. Whole Foods took a PR hit on August 11, when CEO John Mackey wrote an opinion piece in The Wall Street Journal opposing the public option in President Barack Obama's health-care plan. The piece caused an uproar among some of the market's customers who saw Mackey's views as out of step with Whole Foods' progressive stance. Some customers threatened to organize a nationwide boycott via Twitter and Facebook, but protests were mostly limited to a handful of store demonstrations.

Still, most everyone is in agreement that school lunches need help. The debate is about how best to go about making things better. On one side there is the hyperlocal approach. In July, Kaiser Permanente, an Oakland, Calif.-based managed-care organization, donated $3,000 to help fund a summer lunch program for 300 students in Rancho Cordova, Calif. Jack Rozance, the physician-in-chief for Kaiser Permanente in Sacramento, was informed by a colleague that while year-round lunches were federally funded, there was no money to pay staff to serve those meals. The Kaiser money made up for the shortfall in an "economically depressed" community, according to Rozance. And in Michigan, Blue Cross Blue Shield allocated $2,200 to a Grand Rapids charter school for a salad bar, healthy snacks, and an in-class "smart eating program." They also gave $15,000 to a Traverse City, Mich., elementary school that will be preparing "cook from scratch" meals instead of serving prepared foods.

Then there are companies like Whole Foods that think a national campaign would do the most to increase federal subsidies, ban trans fats from school cafeterias, and infuse menus with more locally grown foods.

But solutions aren't borne out of an either-or mentality, says NYU's Nestle: "The implementation of change needs to come on both the small scale and at the national policy level." Because of their size and influence, national companies can exert the kind of pressure that could affect federal policy, she said. On a local level, small grants could fund approaches tailored for individual school districts. "[Unfortunately], there are barriers at every level to overcome."

© 2009