Healthy Food Choices in Schools Presents:

Simple Tricks to Reduce Waste and Increase

Veggie & Fruit Consumption in the Lunchroom Presented by David Just, PhD., Associate Professor, Cornell University

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Healthy Food Choices in Schools.

Behavioral Economics and School

Lunches

David R. Just

The School Lunch Challenge

• The Challenge:

– Improve nutritional content of meals

– Maintain low cost

– Maintain participation

– Encourage longer-term healthy decisions

Why?: Economics and Psychology

• One reason many policies fail is endogeneity– Those who overeat when

visiting a fast food restaurant do so because they like to

– They will be more resistant to information, or other policies

• Another is an inability to make reasoned decisions– Individuals make 200-300

food decisions a day– Making deliberate decisions

for each would be impossible– We fall back on rules of

thumb and habit

Why?: Economics and Psychology

• Reactance – Rebelling against a

threat to freedom– Fat tax versus a thin

subsidy– Limits on ketchup– Don’t press this button

• Attribution– It was my choice, I will

repeat it in the future– Choosing between

celery and carrots

What We Know About Food Decisions

• We have two decision-making mechanisms– Deliberative – Rational – Emotional – Naïve knee-jerk

reactions

• Which takes over depends on the level of cognitive resources available– Stress or distraction leads us

to eat more and eat worse– It takes effort and resources

to resist temptation

Hot vs. Cold Decisions

Cold State• We consider

– Prices– Health information– Logic

• We buy– Smaller portions– Moderate foods

Hot State• We eat for

– Taste– Convenience– Size– Visual effect– This decision is an exception

• We buy– Bigger– More hedonic

What Does this Mean for Kids

• Ever wonder why kids food is generally less healthy?

• Kids have not fully developed their rational system– Very little understanding of long

term consequences– Developing understanding of the

marketplace– Almost like a hot state – all the

time– Reactance to paternalism

• Fortunately most kids find some healthy foods to be appealing and acceptable– We can make some foods cool– We can lead them to make the

right choice

Hot Lunch Line

Old Location for Salad

Bar

Ala Cart Items

Cash Register

#2

Cash Register

#1

New Location for Salad

Bar

Hot Lunch Line

Old Location for Salad

Bar

Ala Cart Items

Cash Register

#2

Cash Register

#1

New Location for Salad

Bar

Increased salad sales

by 2 to 3 times

Suggesting Social Norms

Suggesting Social Norms

• Balancing demand with prevalence

• Self serve items and size– Larger tray sections means

more taken (30%)

– Large serving spoons (14%)

– A vat of mayonnaise with a spoon

• Single serving portions (jar with a pump, packets)

Study Design

• Random assignment (block factoring)– Control– USDA Regs Alone– USDA Regs plus Smarter Lunchrooms™ nudges– USDA Regs plus Branding

• 46 schools from the same district were included in the study – Balanced between elementary, middle and high schools– Tray waste was collected for 16 of the schools—four in each

treatment.– Mixed effects model, school as a random effect– One month prior, one month post

• Taking rates were identical across treatments (required)

Smarter Lunchrooms™

• Smarter Lunchrooms™– Move the fruit

– Name the healthier foods

– Signs and verbal prompts

– Place white milk so it is more visible than other options

• Less than $5 per school--one time fee

Waste

-40%

-20%

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

120%

�Smarter Lunchrooms � Guidelines Only

Was

te Fruit

Vegetables

What Works

• Small inexpensive changes

– Subtle nudges in the right direction

– Reframing the decision of what to each

– Changes that patrons will seldom even notice

• If they think it’s their choice it can form a habit

Healthy Food Choices in Schools

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