School Lunch Salad Bars and Fruit and Vegetable Consumption

Salad Bars and Students' Fruit and Vegetable Consumption: A Group-randomized Trial With Objective Assessments

The investigators propose an efficacy study (i.e., do salad bars work under controlled conditions in naturalistic settings) to test whether introducing salad bars in elementary, middle, and high schools that have never had salad bars affects students' FV consumption and waste during lunch. A cluster randomized controlled trial will test new salad bars against controls for 6 wks, with/without an additional 4-wk marketing phase .

Inclusion Criteria:

• Students enrolled in any grade between grades one and twelve
• Student ID number matches that on a list of randomly selected student ID numbers from the population of student enrolled in school
• Students who elect to receive a hot entree at lunch
• Students who assent to participate

Exclusion Criteria:

• Students in detention
• Students in special education
• Students in Kindergarten
• Students not in school for any reason (e.g. illness, vacation)