By AVIDAN RISHON GURVIS

The food served in school cafeterias, though meant to be healthy, has been met with little enthusiasm on the part of the students. As students discard this food, they waste millions of the district’s dollars.

Los Angeles Unified School District schools are required to serve each student who comes to the cafeteria one fruit or vegetable if they wish to be federally reim-bursed. That system is backfiring. Students do not always appreciate having to select three items.

“Usually they don’t want it, they don’t like it. And the vegetables? They don’t like the vegetables. Now the fruit, they like,” Kathy Mrasz, the cafeteria manager, at Daniel Pearl Magnet High School, said.

She sees students discarding cafeteria food every day.

Cornell University researchers estimated in 2013 that $3.8 million of produce and a total of about $1 billion worth of food, are wasted nationwide.

While the issue is present throughout the district, Mrasz believes DPMHS may be able to balance health and budget.

“Come next year, we’re going ‘prep’. In other words, fresh food looks better,” she said.

 She believes this will stem the flow of food into garbage cans. Next year’s fresh food is due to the upcoming “Breakfast in the Classroom (BIC)”, which is exactly what it sounds like. Mrasz also thought the fact that cafeteria food will be newly prepared means BIC won’t affect lunch sales. Photographer

Others believe LAUSD simply needs to impose activities that will convince students to eat the food items they currently deem unappetizing.

Another major factor in the substantial waste is that students are forbidden to take their cafeteria food off school grounds. Anything they can’t or won’t finish on the spot is supposed to be thrown away.

Mrasz hopes lunch will be more popu- lar next year with the arrival of BIC.

“Everything takes a little time to adjust so, you know, we’ll see,” she said.