During the school year, many Kinnelon High School students buy the school-provided lunch daily without questioning what they consume. However, some students cannot purchase this quick and easy lunch because of their personal diets, allergies, or unawareness of what is in the food being served.
It is easy to see how big of an inconvenience something like this could cause for other students who have food allergies or are trying to prioritize certain nutrients. Sophomore, Leo Dimitrakiou, agreed to be deterred from buying the school lunch because he was unaware of the macronutrients put in the food.
Assuming that it isn’t just Dimitrakiou having this issue, it can also apply to other students who are giving the school a missed opportunity to make more money simply because of a lack of needed information. Freshman, JoJo Canariato, has an allergy to all nuts and said, “It would be better for me to make my lunch at home because I know what I’m putting in my body and I know that it’s safe, so it just makes me more secure about what I’m eating.”
With the help of Kinnelon High School’s food provider, Maschio’s Food Services, students can learn more about the nutritional information and ingredients of the foods they are consuming. It has been recognized that most students and staff are completely unaware of the fact that Maschio’s has an app with all the nutrition labels and ingredients displayed, “With our Nutrislice app…we have a nutrition calculator on there, where you can highlight what you’re interested in eating and then it would track all your macros for you” explained a Maschio’s dietitian, Lorraine Kunick.
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Although this app is easily accessible, likely, most students will not go out of their way to download this app to see nutritional information which can leave others with the question of, how this issue can be solved.
Vice Principal, Matthew Arroyo recognizes that some students do not purchase the school lunch because they are concerned about ingredients and nutritional information. Furthermore, Arroyo showed interest in the idea of a poster being placed in the cafeteria lunch line with a QR code for curious students to scan with their phones to take them to the lunch nutrition labels.
With positive looks for the future, Kunick said, “Our marketing team utilizes QR codes for inquiries like this already and we should be able to provide that to you”. Thankfully, it seems this issue can be solved. Not only can this promote more knowledge to students about their health and nutrition, but it can also create more flexibility for students who are already paying close attention to what they eat. In hopes that this poster idea comes to life, positive feedback has already been given from Dimitrakiou, Canariato, and Aden Reckler all agreeing that this poster would be helpful and used by them and if not them, their peers.