Report: States serving YOUR kids the least healthy school lunches revealed - ... trends now
Junk food is a staple across America's school canteens - but a new map has laid bare which states serve up the least nutritious lunches.
Louisiana has the worst in the country, based on several factors including how many fruits and vegetables students consume, from kindergarten through high school.
The state is followed by Idaho, where the most popular lunch is a pizza cheeseburger, and Wyoming, where students prefer chicken nuggets.
On the other end, Massachusetts has the healthiest lunches, thanks in part to schools incorporating fresh, local foods into its meals.
Massachusetts has the healthiest school lunches in the country, according to data from ProCare Therapy, followed by Maine and Hawaii. Louisiana has the unhealthiest, followed by Idaho and Wyoming
This is followed by Maine takes the the second healthiest spot, followed by Hawaii, according to a report by ProCare Therapy, a school-based health company.
The report comes as America seeks to overhaul its school lunches because many of the meals offered to students have been deemed unhealthy and full of junk ingredients, some of which have been associated with cancers.
ProCare determined its rankings based on factors such as students' consumption of fruits, vegetable's and sugary drinks, the number of National School Lunch Program lunches served per 10,000 children and a state's participation in the Farm to School program, which sees schools buy and use locally produced fresh ingredients.
The National School Lunch Program is a federally assisted meal program providing nutritionally balanced, low-cost or free lunches to kids.
ProCare used data from the US Department of Agriculture (USDA), Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) Farm to School (F2S) census and the Health Resources and Service Administration’s (HRSA) and National Survey of Children's Health (NSCH).
These factors were combined to create a school lunch index score out of 100 possible points, with higher scores representing healthier school lunches.
Findings revealed Hawaii has the largest Farm to School program participation, with 11 percent of the state's school district engaging in a program.
Louisiana, Idaho, Wyoming, New Mexico and Alaska were
