School Nutrition Directors Report Devastating Effect of Inflation, Regulation, Supply Chain Kinks, Staff Shortages

Inflation, over-regulation, supply chain problems and staff shortages are devastating school lunch programs, a national survey by the School Nutrition Association (SNA) reveals.

“School meal programs are at a tipping point as rising costs, persistent supply chain issues and labor shortages jeopardize their long-term sustainability,” SNA President Lori Adkins said Wednesday, echoing many of the problems haunting the Biden Administration, while announcing the results of SNA’s survey of school nutrition director members and its 2023 Position Paper.

According to the survey results reported in SNA’s 2023 School Nutrition Trends Report:

The top 3 challenges for school meal programs are:
1) Increasing costs
2) Staff shortages
3) Menu item shortages

The top 3 most challenging items to procure:
1) Breakfast items (e.g. cereals, granola bars, biscuits, pancakes)
2) Entrees (e.g. pizza, burritos, chicken, burgers)
3) Snacks (e.g. crackers/chips)

“Critical economic and regulatory challenges threaten the sustainability of school meal programs,” SNA warns, reporting that “increasing costs was the top challenge cited by virtually all (99.8%) respondents. 88.5% indicated costs are a significant challenge.”- READ MORE