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New Federal Fruit-and-Vegetable Mandate For School Lunches Getting Mixed Results

By Mike DeNardo

MORRISVILLE, Pa. (CBS) -- You can lead a student to fruits and veggies, but can you make him eat?

New federal school lunch rules require bigger servings of fruits and vegetables in school lunches.  The schools have to offer them to get federal reimbursement (see related story).

But are the kids eating?  We visited the lunchroom at Morrisville High School, in Lower Bucks County, to find out.

"Students are required to take either a fruit or a vegetable," explains Jim Donovan, the general manager of dining services for the Morrisville School District, "so we're really trying to promote and impress upon the students the importance of fruits or vegetables with their meals."

veggies abandoned _denardo
(At Morrisville High School, a lunch tray lays abandoned with its serving of fruit cup intact. Credit: Mike DeNardo)

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Ninth-grader Ashley Horace (top photo) chose a well-balanced lunch that included both fruit and vegetables.

"I chose pizza because I like pepperoni pizza," she said.  "And you have to have a vegetable on your plate.  And the only vegetable I like is cucumbers."

But if cucumbers aren't on the menu tomorrow, Ashley knows she may have to try something new.

 

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