Food guidelines prove to be fruitless effort at Alvirne

At Alvirne High School, new federal regulations are attempting to make the school cafeteria serve healthier meals by requiring students to take an apple or other fruit with their lunch. While the fruit has no additional cost, the mandate’s results have been remarkably unsuccessful. Lunchtimes are already short – a mere 22 minutes to buy and eat food – but lunch lines have become increasingly slow as each student has to stop and select a fruit. At the beginning of the year, disrespect for the cafeteria workers increased to the point that an announcement was made to try to curb the negative reaction. Over time, the students have become more used to taking fruit each day, but many are still upset. “The government shouldn’t be wasting money on giving us fruit when all the fruit is just going to waste,” senior Juliette Miller said. During the first few weeks of school, most of the fruit was abandoned, uneaten, on cafeteria tables for the cleaning staff to collect. Now, there is even a designated area just a few feet from the lunch line where unwanted fruit can be discarded. “I think that at this level, it should be the choice of the students,” said Nina DiGiantommaso, the cafeteria manager. During middle and elementary school, it makes sense to try to instill good eating habits into students, but by high school, there should be a certain amount of independence. Many of the students already can work, drive and vote, so taking fruit should be a choice for them. Instead of giving the food to those who need it, the fruit is wasted on students who don’t have the time to eat it, even if they wanted to. The impact is more far-reaching,  though.