IDENTIFIERS

Noting that children's average daily intake of fruits and vegetables is well below recommended minimums, this report responds to a request from the Appropriations Committee Directives, Fiscal Year 2002 to compare fruits/vegetable availability in schools with and without salad bars. The comparison was made using data from the School Nutrition Dietary Assessment Study collected during the 1998-99 school year. Information was collected from School Food Authorities by telephone and from cafeteria managers in sample schools using a mail survey. Section 1 of the report describes salad bar availability and analyzes trends during the 1990s. Section 2 describes what fruits/vegetables are contained in salad bars. Section 3 compares the variety of fruits/vegetables in schools with and without salad bars. Section 4 describes characteristics of schools with and without salad bars. Section 5 notes data limitations, and Section 6 presents discussion and conclusions. The key findings are as follows: (1) salad bars are available at least once weekly in 21 percent of public schools, are mos