Issue: A USDA Report to Congress found that “competitive foods”—those available in schools in addition to

USDA-provided school meals—have lower nutritional

quality than school meals. These foods may contribute to

overconsumption of food energy, dietary fat, saturated fat,

added sugars, and sodium, and underconsumption of calcium, fiber, fruits and vegetables, and whole grains. Restricting the availability of less nutritious foods, taxing such

foods, and improved marketing of more nutritious food

choices have been proposed as policy changes, and in some

cases have been tested in individual States and districts.

This issue brief reviews current information on the growth

and impact of competitive foods, and presents an

Economic Research Service case study on competition

between soft drinks and milk in particular. 

Background: Older children enjoy more freedom in making food choices, and their diets appear to worsen with age

(Lin et al., 2001). In particular, 60 percent of preschool

children meet their calcium intake recommendation, but

only 13 percent of teenage girls meet the recommendation.

Consuming enough calcium during childhood and adolescence is important to bone formation and to prevention of

osteoporosis in later life. The Economic Research Service

has estimated that for osteoporosis-related hip fractures

alone, improved diets might save $5.1 billion to $10.6 billion each year in medical care costs, missed work, and

premature deaths.

Competitive foods available to schoolchildren can include

food purchased offcampus, a la carte sales, vending

machines, school stores, canteens, and snack bars,

fundraising sales, food at school parties and treats given

by teachers to students. 

These foods are not required to meet the nutritional standards of reimbursable school meals, and studies suggest

they often do not. The National School Lunch Program

regulations prohibit the sale of “foods of minimal nutritional value” in foodservice areas during mealtimes. Such

foods contain less than 5 percent of the Recommended

Daily Allowance for eight specific nutrients per serving—

for example, carbonated soft drinks, water ices, chewing

gum, and most hard candies. School food authorities and

State agencies may impose additional restrictions on competitive foods in schools.

Vending machines selling foods and beverages were present in 94.9 percent of senior high schools, 62 percent of

middle/junior schools, and 26.3 percent of elementary

schools in 2000 (Wechsler et al., 2001). In addition, more

than one-fourth (26.8 percent) of elementary schools, 39.4

percent of middle/junior high schools, and 59.3 percent of

senior high schools had a school store, canteen or snack

bar where students can purchase food or beverages. In

schools with open campus policies, offcampus food

sources may also compete with USDA meals; open campus policies were reported by 26.6 of senior high schools,

10.6 percent of middle/junior high schools and 6.0 percent

of elementary schools (Wechsler et al., 2001). 

A national study showed that the presence of alternatives

is associated with reduced participation in school lunch

programs. With all other factors being equal, 51 percent of

students attending open campus schools eat a school lunch

in a given day compared with 56 percent attending closed

campus schools (Gleason, 1996). 

Use of vending machines was also associated with a lower

onsite school-lunch participation rate, which dropped from

56 percent to 47 percent. Attending a school with a la carte

offerings had no direct association with participation, but

was negatively associated with school meals program certification, which in turn affected total meals served. 

United States

Department of

Agriculture

Economic 

Research

Service

Food Assistance and Nutrition Research Report Number 34-7 July 2003

WIC School

meals

CACPF General

Competitive Foods:

Soft Drinks vs. Milk

Food Assistance Research Brief

Biing-Hwan Lin, blin@ers.usda.gov, (202) 694-5458

Katherine Ralston, kralston@ers.usda.gov, (202) 694-5463
2 Economic Research Service / USDA

Competitive Foods: Soft Drinks vs. Milk / FANRR-34-7

Competitive foods can be lucrative

In some cases, competitive foods are important to the

finances of the school or the school food service itself.

Among schools in the 1998-99 School Nutrition Dietary

Assessment II, a la carte sales contributed $375 per 1,000

elementary school students and $1,985 per 1,000 high

school students. In a study by the American School Food

Service Association, a la carte sales contributed approximately 11 percent to total revenue in elementary school

cafeterias, 25 percent in middle schools, and 36 percent in

high schools. Schools have negotiated contracts with soft

drink companies—worth as much as $19 million in one

Texas school district—in which schools provide exclusive

rights to vending machine sales and event sales, and in

some cases guarantee minimum sales. 

Findings: The subject of soft drinks illustrates some

issues related to competitive foods. Soft drinks are popular

vending items, but many health professionals, educators,

and parents have voiced concerns about their presence in

schools.

More children chose soft drinks over milk at school

School meals are richer in calcium than meals eaten by

children anywhere else. For each 1,000 calories provided,

meals eaten at school provide 662 milligrams (mg) of calcium, compared to 474 from home meals, and 357 from

fast-food meals. This is largely due to the milk served as a

required part of school meals. Yet, USDA’s food consumption surveys show that since 1977 fewer and fewer schoolage children, regardless of age and gender, have consumed

milk (fig. 1). In 1977-78, 22 percent of girls age 14-17

consumed milk on any given day, whereas only 9 percent

of the girls did so in 1994-98. The problem is worse

among older children than younger children (Lin and

French, 2001). 

Meanwhile, the popularity of soft drinks among schoolage children has risen tremendously (fig. 2). The proportion of children obtaining soft drinks at school cafeterias

or vending machines (at school or elsewhere) more than

doubled from 2.5 percent in 1977-78 to 5.8 percent in

1994-98. The increase is higher among children in middle

and high schools. ERS research has shown that each 1-

ounce decline in milk consumption is accompanied by a

4.2-ounce rise in soft drink consumption, resulting in a

gain of 31 calories and a loss of 34 mg of calcium, raising

nutritional concerns (Yen and Lin, 2002).

Summary: Some local school authorities have responded

to concerns by limiting sales of competing foods and beverages in their schools or by developing their own nutritional standards for competitive foods sold in their

schools. Market solutions and pricing strategies have also

been investigated. Improved milk marketing—improved

packaging, adding flavor options, using chilled cases and

vending machines—increased milk sales by 18 percent

across 146 pilot schools (Prentice, 2002). Lowering prices

of lower-fat snacks and increasing prices of higher-fat

snacks in Minnesota school vending machines was found

to promote healthier choices, without significantly affectFigure 1. Milk consumption declining, especially for 

teenagers

Percent of children consuming milk on a given day

Source: Nationwide Food Consumption Survey 1977-78 and Continuing 

Survey of Food Intakes by Individuals, 1994-96 and 1998.

All Boys

6-10

Girls

6-10

Boys

11-13

Girls

11-13

Boys

14-17

Girls

14-17

0

10

20

30

40

1977-78 1994-98

1977-78 1994-98

Figure 2. Soft drink consumption rising, especially for 

teenagers

Percent of children consuming soft drinks from school cafeteria 

and all vending machines, on a given day

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

Source: Nationwide Food Consumption Survey 1977-78 and Continuing 

Survey of Food Intakes by Individuals, 1994-96 and 1998.

All Boys

6-10

Girls

6-10

Boys

11-13

Girls

11-13

Boys

14-17

Girls

14-17
ing profits (French et al., 2001). More investigation of the

relative costs and benefits of the various strategies being

proposed to manage sales of competitive foods in school

would be useful to guide decision making at both national

and local levels.

Information Sources:

French S.A., Jeffery R.W., Story M., Breitlow K.K., Baxter J.S.,

Hannan P., Snyder M.P. (2001). “Pricing and promotion effects on lowfat vending snack purchases: The CHIPS study.” American Journal of

Public Health 91:112-117.

Gleason, P. Student Participation in the School Nutrition Programs: An

Econometric and Simulation Model, report submitted to U.S.

Department of Agriculture, August 1996.

Guthrie, J., and J. C. Buzby. “Several Strategies May Lower Plate

Waste in School Feeding Programs.” FoodReview 25(2) (Summer-Fall

2002):36-42.

Lin, B.-H., J. Guthrie, and E. Frazao. “American Children’s Diets Not

Making the Grade”, FoodReview 24(2) 8-17, 2001. Available at:

http://www.ers.usda.gov/publications/FoodReview/May2001/

FRV24I2b.pdf

Lin, B.-H., and S. French. “National Trends in Soft Drink Consumption

Among Children and Adolescent.” Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Society of Nutrition Education, July 23, 2001, Oakland, CA.

Prentice, Grant. “Marketing School Milk to Children: A Review of Key

Findings from the School Milk Pilot Test”, presented at the Healthy

School Summit:Taking Action for Children’s Nutrition and Fitness,

Washington DC, October 7-8. 2002. Available at: http://www.actionforhealthykids.com/docs/speakers/p_prentice.pdf

U.S. Department of Agriculture, Food and Nutrition Service. Foods

Sold in Competition with USDA School Meal Programs: Report to

Congress, January 12, 2001. Available at: http://www.fns.usda.gov/cnd/

Lunch/CompetitveFoods/competitive.foods.report.to.congress.htm

Wechsler, H., N.D. Brener, S. Kuester, C. Miller. “Food Service and

Foods and Beverages Available at School: Results from the School

Health Policies and Programs Study 2000.” Journal of School Health

71(7):313-323. 2001.

Yen, S., and B.-H.Lin, “Beverage Consumption Among U.S. Children

and Adolescents: Full-Information and Quasi Maximum-Likelihood

Estimation of a Censored System.” European Review of Agricultural

Economics 29(1): 85-103. 2002.

Additional information:

http://www.ers.usda.gov/Briefing/FoodNutritionAssistance/childnutrition/

3 Economic Research Service / USDA

Competitive Foods: Soft Drinks vs. Milk / FANRR-34-7

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) prohibits discrimination in all its programs and activities on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex,

religion, age, disability, political beliefs, sexual orientation, or marital or family status. (Not all prohibited bases apply to all programs.) Persons with disabilities who require alternative means for communication of program information (Braille, large print, audiotape, etc.) should contact USDA’s TARGET

Center at (202) 720-2600 (voice and TDD).

To file a complaint of discrimination, write USDA, Director, Office of Civil Rights, Room 326-W, Whitten Building, 14th and Independence Avenue,

SW, Washington, DC 20250-9410, or call (202) 720-5964 (voice and TDD). USDA is an equal opportunity provider and employer.