Authors: Aaron Brown, Kimball Jardine, Nathan Schill, Courtney Webb, Joanne Guthrie
Mentors: Joseph Price
Insitution: Brigham Young University
Background: Many school districts consider meeting the National School Lunch Program (NSLP) sodium standards challenging. USDA national survey data indicate that in School Year 2014-15, 28% of lunch menus did not meet the standard. Entrees contributed the largest share of sodium, making their sodium content especially important.
Objective: Assess variation in sodium content of popular entrees across a large national sample of school districts.
Study Design, Settings, Participants: School menu data including item sodium content were obtained from 1149 school districts using an automated web scraping program.
Measurable Outcome/Analysis: Menus were web scraped monthly between August 2022 and January 2023. Variation in sodium content of two popular entrees−pizza and chicken nuggets−was analyzed, with average sodium content compared across different regions in the US and also based on the per-pupil spending of the district.
Results: There is statistically significant variation in entree sodium content between regions, with the South having the highest average level of sodium. The average sodium level is also highest in the districts that have the lowest per-pupil spending.
Conclusion: Sodium content of popular entrees exhibits significant variation across school districts. This highlights the fact that districts could reduce the amount of sodium in their lunch entrees while still offering the popular entrees they serve.