PHAI Online - The Public Health Advocacy Institute
School Food
The food and the marketing of food in schools are key factors in childhood obesity. The school food environment impacts not only children but their families and communities. Funded through the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s Healthy Eating Research program, PHAI investigates how the law shapes the diets of children in the school food environment and how the law can be used as a public health tool to improve school food.
PHAI also investigates the design, implementation, and evaluation of enforcement mechanisms for nutrition and physical activity standards in K-12 settings. Our work in this area is geared to provide legal and policy assistance to advocates and public health practitioners working in the area.
PHAI published Mapping School Food: A Policy Guide, a tool to assist key decision-makers in developing and enforcing school food policies. More information and the guide are available here.
PHAI recently published—under the theme of Off the Map: Extracurricular School Food—two issue briefs and accompanying legal notes focusing on Open Campus Lunch and on School Stores, Concessions, and Fundraising. The briefs and legal notes expand upon our school food policy guide. These works are available here.
