Alicia Abelson
WMAL.com

WASHINGTON — (WMAL) Howard County came out on top in a first year report called the School Food Environment Grades project conducted by a Healthy School Food Maryland.

Healthy School Food Maryland, a coalition of 20 local, state, and national organizations focused on the quality and safety of food for children at Maryland Public Schools, released the report in December. The School Food Environment Grades project graded all of Maryland’s 24 school systems on a 12-item rubric, which aims to cover areas of concern for parents and public health advocates.

The rubric includes:

– Access to potable water
– Use of local produce and farm-to-school programs
– Policies prohibiting artificial colors, flavors, and other chemicals in school food
– Access to healthier vending options
– Existence and transparency about a district-level standing wellness committee or it’s equivalent
– Reducing sugar in school food
– Transparency about school foods
– Transparency about A la Carte foods
– Amount of scratch cooking
– Variety and repetition of meals
– Policies on the marketing of foods of minimal nutritional value in school
– Existence and quality of salad bars.

Howard County was the only school district to receive an A+ and did particularly well on including a farm-to-school program, healthy vending machine options, and access to potable water. Carrol County and Fredrick County both received a B+ while Montgomery County and Prince George’s County only received a C.

More information regarding the School Food Environments Grades project study and summary can be found at healthyschoolfoodmd.org.

Copyright 2017 by WMAL.com. All rights reserved. (PHOTO: Lance Cpl. Brandon R. Holgersen/ USMC/ Wikimedia)