The First Lady has impacted America in many different aspects of one’s daily life, but is influencing school cafeteria food pushing the boundaries?  The Agriculture Department and students seem to think so.  Their normal foods have been stripped from them and has been replaced with the healthy foods. Students are encouraged to accept the new cafeteria food without a say in the matter.  Also, lunch ladies have had to adjust to making different meals for the students.  Many people agree with Obama’s method of enforcing healthy food upon students, but a larger number desire to go back to their old lifestyle.

Chief Executive of the School Nutrition Association Patti Montague was distraught by the negative comments Mrs.Obama had directed at certain school district’s cafeterias. After a recent press conference, Montague wrote a letter to the White House expressing her reaction to the remarks made by the First Lady.

“I write in disappointment regarding your July 22 comments disparaging school nutrition professionals who work hard every day, despite limited resources and overwhelming regulatory challenges, to serve healthy, appealing school meals that help students succeed in the classroom,” Montague wrote.

Director of School and Community Nutrition Services Julia Bauscher finds it hard to meet Mrs.Obama’s cafeteria food standards. It’s hard to meet the required school meal criteria and students aren’t very eager to accept these changes.

“Despite our best efforts to make meals more appealing, schools nationwide have also struggled with student acceptance of new menu options,” Bauscher said. “As of July 1, all grains offered with school meals must be whole grain rich, but many schools have been challenged to find whole grain rich tortillas, biscuits, crackers and other specialty items that appeal to students.”

Mrs. Obama claims her influence over cafeterias all over America has been beneficial to student’s health.  She also thinks that it has helped the children adapt to better meal choices and that kids are becoming enthusiastic about healthy food.

“In a number of school districts, participation in the lunch program has actually risen,” Mrs. Obama said. “And there’s a simple reason for that: It’s because those districts actually put some effort into marketing the new meals to the kids. They didn’t just sit back and say, ‘well, the kids like junk food so let’s just give them junk food.’”

Although Obama asserts that participation in lunch rooms has increased, the Agriculture Department found that participation has actually decreased in 49 states.  Most of the facility and children are not satisfied with the new nutrition rules and aren’t pleased with taking on this new lifestyle.