UConn Rudd Center for Food Policy and Health

School meals play an important role in supporting children’s nutrition. Despite substantial improvements in the nutritional quality of school meals following the 2010 Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act, concerns remain regarding the level of processing of the foods served in schools. This may be due to growing evidence of potential adverse outcomes associated with ultra-processed foods, which are industrial formulations designed to enhance the hyper-palatability and shelf life of foods. To better understand how frequently schools serve processed or minimally processed foods, a sample of 1,226 school food authorities (SFAs) across 8 states with and without state-level healthy school meals for all (HSMFA) policies were surveyed.

Full Citation: Cohen J, Chapman L, Gombi-Vaca M, Gosliner W, Hecht C, Hecht K, Schwartz M, Zuercher M, Ritchie L. Research Brief: Current State of Processed Foods in Schools. https://www.childnourishlab.org/healthy-school-meals-for-all

High-sugar breakfast cereal brands target their TV advertising directly to children under age 12, resulting in greater household purchases of these unhealthy children’s cereals, according to a new study from researchers at the Rudd Center for Food Policy and Health at the University of Connecticut.

The study’s findings, published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, revealed that advertising of high-sugar children’s cereals to children – but not to adults – leads to increased purchases of advertised children’s cereals in a large sample of households with children. These findings provide further evidence that the food industry’s promises to self-regulate child-directed food advertising will not have a meaningful impact on children’s diets until companies stop marketing unhealthy foods directly to children altogether.

Research is needed to demonstrate the impact of child-directed advertising on household purchases of nutrient-poor children’s foods to support mandatory government regulations. This study examines the relationship between total TV advertising to children versus adults and U.S. household purchases of high-sugar children’s cereals. Posthoc analyses examine potential differential marginal effects of advertising on households experiencing health disparities.

Advertising children’s cereals directly to children may increase household purchases and children’s consumption of these high-sugar products. Child-directed advertising may also disproportionately influence purchases by Black households. This study supports further restrictions on advertising of nutrient-poor foods directly to children.

Full Citation: Harris, J. L., Khanal, B., Fleming-Milici, F., & Andreyeva, T. (2025b). Children’s cereal purchases by U.S. households: Associations with Child Versus Adult TV ad exposure. American Journal of Preventive Medicine. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.amepre.2024.11.022

Incorporating scratch-cooked, organic, and locally grown foods into school meal programs can enhance meal quality and support local food systems.

430 California school food authorities were surveyed to (1) evaluate their use of scratch-cooked, organic, and locally grown foods in their programs; (2) identify demographic and operational characteristics related to this use; and (3) analyze the relationship between serving more of these foods and perceived barriers to student meal participation. Poisson and logistic regression models, adjusted for SFAs’ demographic characteristics, were used.

Most respondents reported using scratch-cooked (82%) and locally grown foods (80%) in their school meals, with one-third serving organic foods (34%). Receiving grants to buy local produce and having a larger enrollment of White students were associated with more frequent use of these foods. More scratch cooking was associated with higher use of organic and locally grown foods and fewer perceptions of student nonparticipation due to concerns over meal healthfulness, taste, and freshness. More frequent use of organic and locally grown foods was also associated with fewer perceptions of student nonparticipation due to concerns about meal healthfulness.

Full Citation: Zuercher, M. D., Orta-Aleman, D., French, C. D., Cohen, J. F. W., Hecht, C. A., Hecht, K., Chapman, L. E., Read, M., Ohri-Vachaspati, P., Schwartz, M. B., Patel, A. I., Ritchie, L. D., & Gosliner, W. (2025). Factors and Outcomes Associated With Using Scratch-Cooked, Organic, and Locally Grown Foods in School Meals in California. The Journal of school health, 10.1111/josh.13533. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1111/josh.13533

The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) concluded that “caffeine and other stimulant substances contained in energy drinks have no place in the diet of children and adolescents.” Aggressive marketing drives consumption and sales among young people, and a growing body of literature supports the need for energy drink regulations to protect children and teens.

The National School Lunch Program (NSLP) provides meals to over 28 million students daily and is a powerful strategy to reduce childhood food insecurity and improve diet quality. The standard “means-tested” approach to pricing provides meals to low-income students at a reduced price or no cost. However, during the COVID-19 pandemic, federal regulations were temporarily changed to allow districts to provide free school meals to all students (i.e., Universal Free School Meals, UFSM), regardless of income.

We collectively pay for public education because we believe that it is our responsibility to our youth – but it’s hard to focus in class when you are hungry. In addition to the health benefits of reducing food insecurity and improving diet quality, UFSM protects our investment in the public education of Connecticut’s children.

As youth mobile device use, including smartphones and tablets, has grown rapidly, even among very young children – time spent on mobile devices among 0-8 year olds increased by over 1000% from 2011-2020 – so has concern about potential negative health consequences. In addition to widespread concerns about impacts on young people’s mental health, social and emotional skill development, and sleep, mobile device use also allows for exposure to marketing of health-harming products, including foods and beverages that increase the risk of obesity and diet-related chronic diseases.

This study estimates how frequently young children, who are particularly vulnerable to advertising, view food and beverage marketing while using mobile devices.

Full Citation: Kenney, E. L., Mozaffarian, R. S., Norris, J., Fleming-Milici, F., & Bleich, S. N. (2024). Estimating young children’s exposure to food and beverage marketing on mobile devices. Current Developments in Nutrition, 104505. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cdnut.2024.104505

A local school wellness policy is a written document that guides local educational agency (LEA) efforts to establish a school environment that promotes students’ health, well-being, and ability to learn. These policies are required for all LEAs that sponsor the USDA National School Lunch Program or School Breakfast Program. Wellness policies are board-approved documents and are shared with the public.

This guide outlines the steps to create a local school wellness policy, federal requirements, and additional resources for LEAs.

The is a model local school wellness policy (LSWP) developed by the UConn Rudd Center for Food Policy and Health based on the language used in LSWPs adopted by school districts in Connecticut and elsewhere in the United States.

This model policy includes strong language for each of the 67 policy topics assessed by the Wellness School Assessment Tool, or WellSAT. WellSAT items are indicated throughout the model policy in red text in square brackets (“[IEC1]”). This allows you to refer back to the tool to determine the important elements of policy language for each item.

Please feel free to adapt this policy to meet the needs of your district.

For youth, weight stigma is most commonly experienced as teasing, bullying, or harassment, which can be referred to as ‘weight-based victimization’. This can include verbal teasing, cyber bullying, physical aggression, or relational victimization (such as being ignored, excluded, or the target of rumors). Across youth of diverse backgrounds, as many as half of girls and one third of boys report being teased or bullied about their body weight. Youth are more likely to be bullied for their weight or physical appearance than because of their race/ethnicity, sexual orientation, or disability status. While peers are common perpetrators of weight-based teasing in youth and adolescents,4 parents and family members are also common sources of weight stigma. When youth experience weight teasing from family members, they are more likely to internalize these experiences and engage in self-blame.