Hummus, anyone? No? How about for your kid, to replace that cookie snack? Vendors are hoping kids will hop aboard the health food trend with marketing aimed at them.

As the federal government prepares to raise standards for food served in schools, vendors […] are rolling out healthier versions of lunchroom favorites. Now there are whole-grain pizzas and baked chicken nuggets, along with new offerings like hummus. It’s all part of an uphill — and so far losing — battle to slow rising obesity rates.

The government’s new standards will be released before 2008.

Lunchrooms across the country are encountering problems with their healthy options - kids aren’t choosing them. (You mean pizza is more appealing to my kid than broccoli and salad? Wow!) Even their tactics to make popular foods healthier - baked chicken nuggets, for example - aren’t always meeting with a favorable reception.

Perdue Farms Inc. can attest to the challenge of developing healthy but still appealing options. When the company tested chicken nuggets with whole-grain breading two years ago, “it came out looking like baked bugs,” said Doylene Jones, national sales manager for the company’s school food service.

“It doesn’t do you any good to make something if the kids are going to throw it in the trash can,” she said.

Good point. Also, vegetables remain wildly unpopular with the under-18 crowd. (My daughter is starting early - she already hates most of them.) There’s only so much you can do to make cabbage look or smell edible.

Here’s a thought: Take away the options. Leave kids with only healthy foods at mealtime. Unfortunately, fresh foods (like fruit) are expensive, and most school systems are on a tight budget. Prepackaged stuff is easier to serve and cheaper to buy in bulk.

It’s not all the schools’ fault if our kids aren’t eating well, as one expert pointed out. We’re supposed to teach our kids how to make healthy choices. The bottom line, though, is that until you can make a carrot taste like a candy bar, the vast majority of kids are going to reach for desserts and snack foods over wholesome meals.

Posted by Sunshining.