Students around the country are fighting back against healthy school lunch standards that they say have decreased the quality of food served at schools.
Over the past few weeks, the hashtag #ThanksMichelleObama has surfaced, with students tweeting pictures of their unappetizing school lunches. In 2010, Congress passed the Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act, which requires less sugar and fat in school meals. The first lady pushed hard for the act and has since come to its defense.
However, on Twitter some teens have expressed their dismay with the new rules.
According to Buzzfeed, Wisconsin’s Richmond Center High School student Hunter Whitney, complained about his lunch on Twitter:
The outlet identified Jess Sency as another high school senior who expressed disappointment about her school lunches:
Meanwhile, others on Twitter are bashing the hashtag, saying that poor school lunches are more the fault of individual schools.
Notably, another teen in Wisconsin recently led a boycott of her school's lunches to protest the Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act.
"It's not actually giving us healthy foods. It's giving us small portions of very processed foods. Kids aren't happy about that," said Megan Hellrood, who organized the boycott at D.C. Everest High School, according to Fox News. Hellrood said she is encouraging kids across the nation to pack their lunches in protest.
However, two surveys released in July show that students are actually warming up to the new lunch standards.
“Policymakers at all levels should be encouraged by these findings and should continue to support schools’ efforts to provide students with healthy meals and snacks,” Tina Kauh, a program officer for the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, said in a statement at the time, according to Education Week.
