ArticlePublic health nutrition2025
School staff perspectives on Universal Free Meals in the USA.
Article in Public health nutrition, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.
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Who cites it
2 citing papers in PubMed.
- Loss of Access to Universal Free School Meals and Body Mass Index in Students.JAMA network open · 2026Article
- Article
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Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectiveDuring the COVID-19 pandemic, the US Department of Agriculture allowed all US schools to offer meals at no cost regardless of family income, a policy known as Universal Free Meals (UFM). Despite the recognised benefits of UFM, the policy expired in June 2022. The goal of this study was to gather perceptions of school staff in Arizona about school meals, UFM and the discontinuation of UFM.
designThis mixed-method study collected data using an online survey. Open-ended survey questions were analysed using qualitative thematic analysis, and closed-ended questions were analysed using descriptive analysis.
settingThe survey was distributed to school staff in the two major metropolitan areas in Arizona between September and October 2022, soon after the UFM policy expired.
participantsSurvey responses were received from 1255 school staff, including teachers, cafeteria staff, administrators and other staff.
resultsMost school staff (93 %) were supportive of UFM, and the support was consistent across all staff categories and across different political leanings. Thematic analysis demonstrated that staff felt UFM helped to meet students' basic needs, reduced stigma and lessened the burden on teachers to use their own resources to provide food to students. Despite strong support, some staff reported concerns about food quality, programme waste and time available for lunch.
conclusionsUFM policies were strongly supported by school staff, despite some concerns about programme implementation. Understanding these views is important to the discussion of expanding UFM policies in the USA and globally.
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