Left Over: How Corporations and Politicians Are Milking the American School Lunch

Less than $2. That’s how much the Santa Ana Unified school district can afford to spend on one student’s lunch each day. The $14 billion budget of the National School Lunch program stretches thin, and school nutrition workers are often the target of kids’ complaints. Reporter Jessica Terrell explores the cultural figure of “the lunch lady,” and how students and workers lose when bureaucrats focus on cost over care. 

This episode inc...

16.8 pounds of food. That’s how much less food a 10-year-old child gets per week on the lowest rung of government food assistance, compared to a child in a better-funded program. In this episode, Left Over returns to the roots of our social welfare programs to understand how long-standing racism and classism play a role in limiting what the National School Lunch Program does for school children today. 

This episode includes an annot...

$40. That's how much one Milwaukee student says she spends each week on snacks instead of eating the food in her public school cafeteria. For decades, school nutrition leaders in Milwaukee resisted what many other programs around the country were doing: transitioning away from scratch-cooked meals to serve more processed, pre-packaged food. They ultimately switched to save money. Reporter Jessica Terrell digs into the proliferation...

$40 billion. That’s how much the “Big Three” food service contractors—Aramark, Sodexo, and Chartwells—earned in the United States in 2019. Many public school meal programs are run by private companies with a documented history of cutting employee wages, reducing food quality, and pocketing incentives meant for schools. Reporter Jessica Terrell details how corporations profit off the public school lunch system, and talks to some of ...

60 to 70 percent of total milk sales. That’s the share of chocolate and flavored milk students buy in school cafeterias each year. Nutrition workers, parents, doctors, and the dairy industry have debated whether to keep chocolate milk in schools for over a decade. Reporter Jessica Terrell examines the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010 and the fight over chocolate milk to understand why attempts to reform the National School Lun...

74 percent. That’s how much fewer greenhouse gas emissions schools emit into the environment when they implement sustainable lunch menus–like Meatless Mondays. From serving culturally relevant food to buying from local farms, nutrition leaders across the U.S. are reimagining what school lunch can do for their communities. In this final episode, reporter Jessica Terrell explores how school nutrition programs are innovating and learn...

The newest narrative podcast from LWC Studios is out now! “Still Paying the Price: Reparations in Real Terms” is a 14-part series exploring how reparations should be paid and to whom. This podcast is meant to be enjoyed in an order that makes the most sense for our listeners. You can begin by listening to this episode or wherever you find your podcasts–-and start your own reparations exploration.

For more information, all episodes, ...

The health and wellness of Latinas is crucial to the health and wellbeing of the U.S. economy. In 100 Latina Birthdays, an original documentary series from Peabody-nominated LWC Studios, reporters in Chicago investigate the health and lifetime outcomes of Latinas in the United States from birth to age 100. In season 1, the stories that unfold center Latinas during their perinatal journeys, childhood, adolescence, and up until age 2...