According to USDA mandate, it is required that each student must have a daily portion of fruits and vegetables. The overall goal of these guidelines is to improve children’s dietary behaviours and ultimately address the childhood obesity epidemic, and so there needs to be patience to allow children time to adjust.

Studies found that children preferred processed fruits and vegetables such as the tomato paste on pizza or 100 percent fruit juice rather than whole varieties. The essence of fruits and veggies is to nourish their body and give them the necessary vitamins to grow strong and healthy.
New Research from the University of Vermont used digital photography to capture graphic images of students lunch trays in the school after they selected their food, as they were leaving the lunch line, and again at the end of their lunch as they passed the food disposal area. They found that while many students placed more fruits and vegetables on their trays – as required by the USDA mandates put in place in 2012 – they consumed fewer of them. The amount of food wasted increased by 56 percent, the researchers found. Evidence have it that more kids usually throw away their fruits after they must have received it from their food eatery.

Verified reports documented hundreds of tray observations over 21 visits to two elementary schools in the Northeast both before and after the implementation of the USDA guidelines. About half of the students at the schools qualified for free or reduced price lunch, a marker for low socioeconomic status.

The way forward-
In addition to making sure those options are available, additional strategies are provided in the paper for increasing fruit and vegetable consumption in school lunch programs:
Cutting up vegetables and serving them with dip or mixing them in with other parts of the meal;
Slicing fruits like oranges or apples, rather than serving them whole;
Adopting promising strategies targeting school settings such as Farm-to-School programs and school gardens, which can encourage fruit and vegetable consumption in addition to what the cafeteria is providing
Putting public health programs in place that encourage fruit and vegetable consumption in the home, which could carry over to school.

http://nutripotblog.com/research-shows-that-us-students-often-tossed-fruits-and-veggies-in-trash/

For many parents, buying and preparing healthy foods is pretty easy. It’s getting your child to actually eat those nutritious foods that’s the hard part! This makes mealtimes frustrating and leaves parents often wondering if their child is getting enough nutrients.