"Perhaps someone has already looked into this but just in case... My understanding is that the UI and Grinnell have gone to all cage-free eggs, and they were able to do so at no extra cost since they were buying in such bulk.

I wonder if there would be some way to encourage more local and organic foods, humanely treated animial products, etc, by getting local farms involved. It might not be a huge cost, especially since there would be less transportation required.

I do think it is very important to pay close attention to providing food that kids will eat, as well cultural issues in the schools before making drastic changes to the menus. Sometimes a simple modification (e.g., using whole wheat instead of white flour) can be an important step in making incremental changes."

"My priorities would be as follows:
1. Remove the use of food as a reward in our classrooms.
2. Parents given a list of healthy, acceptable food choices for snack times. This must be reinforced.
3. Hormone free milk.

For those of us who want our kids to eat healthy foods, avoiding the school lunch can be done by providing our kids with a lunch from home. It seems unfair that our kids are given unhealthy food in the classroom, where it is out of our control. It is suprising what kids will eat when exposure is given to good food and unhealthy alternatives aren't available. Thanks for all the hard work so far in helping our voices to be heard! Whaoo at last we are on the road to implimenting change!
"