Due to the short time the updated National School Lunch Program standards have been in place since fall of 2012, few research studies have explored what effect these new standards have had on fruit and vegetable (F/V) consumption, particularly among elementary school students. Because the new standards require schools to offer students more F/V than before, researchers are interested to know if F/V consumption has indeed increased. The participants in the study were enrolled in a program to motivate students to eat more F/V – the Food Dudes program. The results of the data analysis found that most students, regardless of grade, were eating less F/V initially after the new standards were in place. However, the group of students receiving prizes from the Food Dudes program actually ate more F/V over time instead of less. Also, F/V consumption for the first spring under the new standards did not decrease as much as it had during the spring under the old standards. These results indicate that, despite initial declines in F/V consumption, students could be adjusting to the updated standards. Also, students who have participated in the incentives group of the Food Dudes program did not show a drop in F/V consumption, even during the first semester the new standards were in place. Future studies should look at the current F/V intake of students under the updated guidelines now that they have been in place for several school years, as well as at additional intervention programs to increase F/V consumption among this population.

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Background: National School Lunch Program (NSLP) meals have been found to be of higher dietary quality than home-packed lunches. Objective: To explore the cost, including time, of NSLP versus different categories of home-packed lunches. Methods: Data from pre-kindergarten and kindergarten lunches from three schools in southwest Virginia were used for this study. Each lunch item was priced, and a direct cost was assigned based on the lunches contents. Time assessments were conducted to determine the amount of time to prepare each lunch, with a monetary value for time computed based on average salary of the respective county. A non-parametric Kruskal Wallis test was used to compare the direct cost, time, time cost, and the full cost of the meals. Medians were computed based on outlier data. Results: The lowest median direct cost was found for homemade packed lunches ($1.55), followed by homemade school lunches ($2.11), then convenience packed lunches ($2.12), and then NSLP lunches ($2.15). When incorporating preparation time, the NSLP lunch cost the least ($2.15), followed by convenience packed lunches ($2.56), then homemade packed lunches ($2.92), and then homemade school lunches ($11.32). Seventy-six percent (n=414) of home-packed lunches contained sugar-sweetened beverages and/or dessert food items, accounting for almost one-quarter (21.8%) of the cost of all home-packed lunches. Conclusion: When time is computed as part of the total cost of NSLP versus home-packed lunches, the NSLP is the least expensive option. In conjunction with the nutritional benefits of the NSLP, this time-cost data may help shift purchasing and consumption patterns. / Master of Science

M. Tech. Food and Nutrition Tshwane University of Technology / The aim of this study was to explore and evaluate the management systems which are used for the NSNP (National School Nutrition Programme) in the City of Tshwane. The objectives of this study were set to include inter alia the evaluation of the human resource management system, quality and monitoring management system, the financial management system, purchasing and procurement system, the communication management system and capacity building management in the NSNP (National School Nutrition Programme).

Análises elaboradas nas últimas três décadas, tendo por base dados obtidos por pesquisas nacionais revelam que houve redução do consumo, pela população brasileira, de alimentos de origem vegetal. Também tem sido destacado por diversos autores que o baixo consumo de frutas e hortaliças está associado ao maior risco do desenvolvimento de doenças cardiovasculares e diversos tipos de câncer. Pesquisas envolvendo crianças e adolescentes brasileiros revelam que os mesmos consomem, de forma geral, reduzida quantidade desses alimentos. Com o objetivo de estimular o consumo dos alimentos de origem vegetal, têm sido buscadas alternativas e, entre essas, a incorporação de maior quantidade e variedade dos referidos alimentos nas refeições dos programas alimentares dirigidos, por exemplo, aos escolares. Uma alternativa que se revela promissora é a utilização dos alimentos minimamente processados, também considerados de "conveniência" ou de "fácil preparo". A presente pesquisa, realizada no município de Piracicaba - SP e tendo por base amostra de 210 escolares, matriculados em escolas públicas, visou conhecer: a aceitabilidade das hortaliças minimamente processadas; a análise do consumo de alimentos, com destaque para a contribuição de energia e nutrientes provenientes das hortaliças e frutas e, também, a avaliação do estado nutricional dos alunos. Foram analisados os indicadores antropométricos (escore Z de altura para idade - ZAI e escore Z de peso para idade - ZPI) e a distribuição do Índice de Massa Corporal - IMC. As informações relativas ao consumo alimentar (análises quantitativas e qualitativas) foram obtidas por meio da realização de entrevistas, adotando-se o método de registro de alimentos (Recordatório 24 horas). Para o cálculo e as análises do conteúdo de energia e nutrientes presentes na alimentação dos escolares utilizou-se o software Virtual Nutri (Philippi et al., 1996). Para conhecer a opinião do grupo de alunos sobre as hortaliças minimamente processadas, realizou-se teste de análise sensorial, adotando-se a escala hedônica facial de três pontos. Os resultados revelaram que dos alunos entrevistados, 35,2% das meninas e 32,4% dos meninos apresentaram sobrepeso enquanto apenas 1,9% dos escolares revelaram condição oposta, ou seja, baixo peso. Verificou-se que 50% da população estudada possui dieta cujo conteúdo energético não atingiu o valor mínimo recomendado e, somente 36,19% dos escolares apresentaram adequada participação dos macronutrientes (carboidratos, proteínas e lipídios) no Valor Energético Total - VET. Observou-se também, que 58,10% dos participantes da pesquisa gostaram muito das hortaliças minimamente processadas, e apenas 10,47% reprovaram os vegetais. verificou-se que 17,14% das meninas e apenas 3,81% dos meninos, afirmaram "não gostar" das hortaliças minimamente processadas. Ressalta-se que 61% dos escolares que revelaram "gostar muito" dos vegetais minimamente processados, pertencem a famílias com menor renda per capita. Há possibilidades que uma maior oferta e consumo de hortaliças, pelos alunos, seja assegurada com a devida incorporação de alimentos minimamente processados às refeições dos programas alimentares, que vigoram atualmente no Brasil. / Analysis elaborated in the last three decades, based on information obtained through national researches reveal that there was reduction of the consumption, for the Brazilian population, of foods of vegetable origin. It has also been highlighted by several authors that the low consumption of fruits and vegetables is associated to a larger risk of development of cardiovascular diseases and several cancer types. Researches involving children and Brazilian teenagers reveal that they consume, in general, reduced amount of those foods. With the objective of stimulating the consumption of the foods of vegetable origin, alternatives have been looked for and, among those, the incorporation of a larger amount and variety of the referred foods in the meals of the alimentary programs driven to the scholars, for instance. An alternative, which seems promising, is the use of the minimally processed vegetables, also considered of "convenience" or "easy to prepare". This research, accomplished in the municipal district of Piracicaba - SP, based on a sample of 210 students, enrolled in public schools, aimed to know: the acceptability of the minimally processed vegetables; analyze the consumption of foods; highlighting the contribution of energy and nutrients coming from vegetables and fruits and, also, the students' nutritional status. The anthropometrical indicators were analyzed (Z - scores of height to age - ZAI and Z - scores of weight for age - ZPI) as well as the distribution of the Body Mass Index - BMI. The information concerning the alimentary consumption (quantitative and qualitative analysis) was obtained through interviews, being adopted the method of registration of foods (Reminding 24 hours). For the calculation and analysis of the content of energy and nutrients present in the students feeding it was used the software Virtual Nutri (Philippi et al., 1996). To know the opinion of the students' group on the minimally processed vegetables, a sensorial analysis took place, adopting the three points facial hedonic scale. The results revealed that, among the interviewed students, only 35,2% of the girls and 32,4% of the boys presented overweight while 1,9% of the students revealed the opposite condition, that is, low weight. It was verified that 50% of the studied population have a diet in which energy content didn't reach the recommended minimum value and, only 36,19% of the students presented appropriate participation of the macronutrients (carbohydrates, proteins and lipids) in the Total Energy Value - TEV. It was also observed that 58,10% of the participants of the research enjoyed a lot the minimally processed vegetables, and only 10,47% didn't enjoy the vegetables. It was verified that 17,14% of the girls and only 3,81% of the boys stated not to "enjoy" the minimally processed vegetables. It is important to say that 61% of the students who revealed to "enjoy a lot" the minimally processed vegetables, belong to families that have a smaller family income per capita. There are possibilities that a larger offer and consumption of vegetables, among the students, is guaranteed with the incorporation of minimally processed foods to the meals of the alimentary programs in place in Brazil today.

Para atender às cambiantes exigências coletivas, numa sociedade cada vez mais complexa, a Administração Pública deve estar em permanente processo de aperfeiçoamento e modernização, sempre ocupada com a eficiência dos serviços que presta à sociedade, às empresas e aos cidadãos. A prestação de serviços Públicos é a razão de ser e condição de legitimidade de qualquer organização administrativa. Apesar da escassez de processos de qualidade e gerenciamento, cultura de atendimento, memória organizacional, na Administração Pública existe uma enorme riqueza de conhecimento tácito em verdadeiros portais humanos. Há um número de especialistas muito bem formados e com décadas de experiência, sendo um dos grandes desafios conseguir explicitar e compartilhar todo esse conhecimento. Neste sentido o presente trabalho tem como objetivo: Propor um método de trabalho que, utilizando como referencial os modelos da Enterprise Knowledge Development (EKD), desenvolva-os através das atividades da Gestão do Conhecimento, utilizando informações do setor de Alimentação Escolar do município de São Carlos, SP. Como um dos principais benefícios pretendidos com o método de trabalho pode-se citar o enriquecimento dos profissionais do setor que, dotados de novos conhecimentos e conhecimentos compartilhados, estejam aptos a disseminá-los e aplicá-los como forma de controle e produtividade. / To attend the variable collective demand, in a society that is getting each day more complex, the public administration must be in a permanent process of development and modernization, always worried about the efficiency of the service that offers to society and businesses. Public service providing is the reason of existence and condition of legitimacy of any business. Even though public administration lacks of quality and management process, serving culture, organizational memory, there exist an enormous wealth of tacit knowledge. There are in the public sector a great number of specialists with awesome degrees and with decades of experience, so there is a great challenge to explicit and share the knowledge. In this way the present work has an objective: propose a work methodology, utilizing the referential model of Enterprise Knowledge Development, that develops them through the activities of Knowledge Management utilizing information from the school lunch of the publics schools in São Carlos. The most important benefits intended with this working methodology are the enrichment of the professionals from this area, who with knowledge in hands and shared knowledge, are able to spread this knowledge and apply it in a way that will improve the control and productivity in the schools of the public sector.

The dissertation consists of three studies that seek to identify school caterer and women farmer constraints that have hindered the buy-local policy mandate of the Ghana School Lunch program, and to explore gendered agricultural technology adoption and contract participation strategies that could facilitate the policy mandate. The first study documents the constraints that have minimized caterer purchases of school food items from local farmers. The study presents an overview of the Ghana School Lunch Program and the buy-local policy mandate issued to school caterers. Survey data and descriptive analysis are employed to document and discuss the constraints that prevent school caters from purchasing from local farmers as well as the constraints faced by smallholder women farmers in supplying to school caters. The study subsequently discusses school caterers’ compensating variation of a hypothetical policy that requires them to firstly provide recommended portions of vegetables and protein, and secondly include fruits in the lunch of the schoolchildren. The second study analyses the factors underlying the probability that women smallholder farmers - compared to male farmers - adopt less a) improved seeds, b) fertilizer, c) herbicides and d) pesticides. The study further examines the sensitivity of gender differences in technology adoption to crop choice, particularly maize and legume, as well as the possible heterogeneity of technology adoption differences within rural and peri-urban communities. The adoption of these improved technologies is modeled using multivariate probit regressions. A gender gap is observed among legume farmers for improved seed and pesticide adoption. Moreover, the findings indicate that female maize farmers who have input into all cash crop production decisions are more likely to adopt improved seeds and pesticides. Among legume farmers, the results indicate that female farmers who are educated and have access to credit are more likely to adopt fertilizer, while female legume farmers who have a say in what the use of income generated from cash crop farming are more likely to adopt pesticides. These results imply that policy-makers and development practitioners in sub-Saharan Africa should consider strategies to target and increase educational, financial and productive assets of female farmers in order to close the gender technology gap and increase multiple technology adoption. The third study examines the use of farm-to-school contracts as a means to provide access to credit for women farmers in rural and peri-urban areas and facilitate the buy-local policy mandate. In particular, the study examines the factors influencing male and female smallholder farmers’ minimum willingness to accept (WTA) farm-to-school-lunch contracts for maize and cowpea beans. The minimum WTA simultaneously measures the decision to participate as well as the minimum price at which the smallholder farmer accepts the contract. Using sex-disaggregated data from a field experiment, a Tobit model is applied to explain the underlying factors influencing male and female smallholder farmer’s minimum WTA for a set of hypothetical maize and cowpea beans contracts. The results for the pooled sample indicate that the delivery at harvest option increases farmers’ minimum willingness to accept both the maize and beans contracts. The study further examines heterogeneity in the minimum WTA among smallholder farmers. The results in the female specification indicate that, the advance pay option lowers the minimum WTA for maize contracts. Additionally, women farmers who own non-farm business, compared to a male with a non-farm business, have a lower minimum WTA for the maize and beans contracts. The results suggest that if the government considers contractual arrangements between school caterers and local farmers to facilitate the buy-local policy mandate, an advance pay option to women farmers may yield lower premiums for contracted food items.