Full Article

As the new Editor of the Journal of Child Nutrition and Management, I am pleased to present our new look with this issue. Hats off to the marketing team at the School Nutrition Association for creation of the new letterhead for the Journal!

I am excited to serve as Editor. The Journal is the primary resource for those seeking evidence-based information about School Nutrition programs. As a registered dietitian with many years of research and teaching experiences, the Journal has been my “go to” reference on many topics related to child nutrition programs. Research to improve dietary habits of children, empower management and increase efficiency of operations, and demonstrate relationships between school meals and student achievement are frequent topics addressed in the Journal.

It is my belief the Journal can provide useful and relevant information helpful to practitioners and others in districts charged with making decisions about school meal programs while contributing to the body of knowledge about school nutrition. While a research study will often focus on specific questions, authors in the Journal of Child Nutrition and Management provide conclusions and applications for child nutrition programs that are useful beyond the study. Stay tuned for some tips on how to get the most out of these research articles!

In this issue

Timely topics for researchers and practitioners are presented. Of note is a Position Paper by School Nutrition Association, the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, and The Society for Nutrition Education and Behavior about Comprehensive Nutrition Programs and Services in Schools. USDA Food and Nutrition Service has compiled a summary of their research related to child nutrition programs.

This issue of the Journal has one Current Issue article, four Research in Action papers, and two manuscripts that provide Practical Solutions. The Current Issue paper by Guerrero, Olsen and Wistoft provides a review of the literature about the role of taste in student acceptance of foods. This article provides useful information to researchers and those in practice.

The Research in Action papers cover timely topics. Cirillo and Morra discuss the importance of the role of school culture and subsequent relationships with Farm to School programs in Vermont. Haines and Spruance investigate parent support for Breakfast after the Bell programs in one state which has very low breakfast participation. Thapa and Lyford present results from a field experiment to increase fruit and vegetable consumption through use of nudge principles. Similarly, Epstein-Solfield, Arango, Ogan, and Stendell-Hollis present findings related to third and fifth grade students’ knowledge, preference and consumption of fruits and vegetables as a result of a nutrition education intervention.

In the Practical Solutions category, one article by Jamelske and Vernon describes the sustained impact of teacher encouragement on vegetable snack consumption at a Wisconsin elementary school.  The other article, by Hoffman, Srinivasan, Levin, and Scarmo, identifies some of the challenges, and possible solutions to these, that face school meal programs in rural districts.

I hope you find information in this issue useful and relevant. Please feel free to contact me with your feedback.

Happy Spring Reading!

Catherine Strohbehn, PhD, RDN, CP-FS
Editor
cstrohbehn@gmail.com