Study to Photograph Student Lunch Trays

Thursday, 12 May 2011 | by Pat's Picks

Students in Texas will have to say cheese before they get to eat their cheese. A new study aimed at studying childhood obesity will photograph the lunch trays of elementary students right after they receive them and then again when they’ve finished. The San Antonio Express-News says the goal is to “get a sophisticated breakdown of calories, nutrients, fats and sugar,” not to mention photographic evidence of who’s eating their veggies and who’s not.

Researchers will track their subjects with bar codes tacked on the bottom of participants’ trays; they hope that someday the data can be turned into an app that would allow parents or diets to see exactly how much of their cafeteria meals were consumed.