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Title: The use of point-of-sale machines in school cafeterias as a method of parental influence over child lunch food choices

Author
item ANDREPONT, EMMY - Cypress-Fairbanks Independent School District
item CULLEN, KAREN - Children'S Nutrition Research Center (CNRC)
item TAYLOR, WENDELL - University Of Texas Health Science Center

Submitted to: Journal of School Health
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 9/7/2010
Publication Date: 5/1/2011
Citation: Andrepont, E., Cullen, K.W., Taylor, W.C. 2011. The use of point-of-sale machines in school cafeterias as a method of parental influence over child lunch food choices. Journal of School Health. 81(5):239-243.

Interpretive Summary: Computerized point-of-sale (POS) machine software that allows parents to place restrictions on their child’s school meal selections is available in some schools. Parents could restrict specific foods (e.g. chips), identify specific days the child can purchase extra foods, or set monetary limits. This paper examined the use of parental restrictions on student cafeteria POS accounts in two school districts for the 2007-2008 school year. The alerts were coded into five categories: financial, medical, restrictions, snacks OK, and extras OK. The distribution of alerts by district and students, as well as alerts by demographics were tabulated. District A had more students with alerts (16%) than District B (2.6%). Most alerts were for full pay students in both districts (74% and 66%), and varied by demographics of the students. Few parents actually used this system to limit student purchases of foods in schools. Future studies should investigate the influence of these restrictions on student food choices.

Technical Abstract: Computerized point-of-sale (POS) machine software that allows parents to place restrictions on their child’s school meal accounts is available. Parents could restrict specific foods (eg, chips), identify specific days the child can purchase extra foods, or set monetary limits. This descriptive study examines the use of parental restrictions on student cafeteria POS accounts in a convenience sample of 2 school districts. POS alerts, with student gender, grade, ethnicity, and students’ free or reduced-price meal eligibility, were obtained from 2 school food service departments for the 2007-2008 school year. The alerts were coded into 5 categories: financial, medical, restrictions, snacks OK, and extras OK. The distribution of alerts by district, students, and demographics was then tabulated. District A (4839 students) had more students with alerts (n = 789, 16%) than District B (8510 students; n = 217, 2.6%), and 94 District A students had a second alert. District A parents had to provide written permission for their child to purchase snacks (n = 654, 13.5%) and extra meal items (n = 113, 2.3%). Most alerts were for full-pay students in both districts (74% and 66%) and varied by demographics of the students. Few parents actually used this system to limit student purchases of foods outside the school meal. Future studies should investigate the influence of these restrictions on student food choices.