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Labeling Penmen’s meals

Tagline: Healthier labels for future minds.
Written by Andrew Caskey

Have you stood in a long line waiting to order your food at the dining center and

watched as students with plates pass by? Did you order your next meal based on

hungry eyes or the aroma of chicken nuggets? Students on-campus experience this

exact position and do not know how healthy their food is. Supporting a healthier

relationship with food by adding health labels for every food item is a vital step Southern

New Hampshire University (SNHU) can take to help students achieve success in the

future. Additionally, informed decision-making promotes a nourishing food and beverage

choice that optimizes performance and healthier minds for education.

The current setup of the dining center allows visitors to identify some different

options of food. The choices are vegetarian, vegan, halal, and gluten-free. The helpful

labeling accommodates dietary restrictions, religions, and food allergies. However, the

labels do not supply easy-to-read nutrient guidelines for students to optimize their

performance and health at SNHU.

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Michael Webster, a commuter attending SNHU, said, “I’m limited on time during

noon classes and can’t travel home during lunch, so I have to decide quickly on food

options.” After explaining the initiative to include healthier food labels in the dining

center, Senior Michael Webster explained, “having a system where I can just look at the

color to know I’m choosing healthy options would improve my food selection.”

The American College Health Association stated that 37% of college students

were overweight or were affected by obesity in 2016. Obesity rates that are rising on

campus could be reduced by using health labels that incorporate nutrition information

about the foods we eat on campus. Additionally, a simple color-coding system can

substitute for students with time constraints that are green for nutrient-rich types of

foods, yellow for nutrient-neutral choices, and orange for nutrient-empty choices.

One concern about implementing health labels and a color-coding system on

campus is projecting a negative message or judgment for what students eat. A

qualitative analysis used cross-sectional testing to survey students if they supported

college-based interventions addressing eating. Overall, students responded with 60% in

favor of the interventions, but 47% were concerned with the tactic believing it would

increase existing eating disorders. Students were surveyed about a green, yellow, and

red color scheme. Respondents believed red “seemed jarring” but agreed that “the more

nutrition information, the better” (Seward, Block, Chatterjee, 2018). Realizing the

stoplight color scheme could exacerbate eating disorders, a warm orange could replace

the harsh red and indicate a food item is empty of nutritional value.

Southern New Hampshire University must take the first step to support students

in bonding a healthier relationship with the food they consume on-campus. Supplying
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easy-to-read nutrient guidelines and adding a color-coding system with green-yellow-

orange labels in the dining center is a no brainer for our future mind. Informed decision-

making promotes better food and beverage choice that optimizes performance and

healthier minds for education.

About the Author:

Andrew is a senior pursuing a Law and Politics degree at Southern New Hampshire University. He
is a Cadet and an experienced Noncommissioned Officer with nearly 10 years of experience in the
military industry. He is passionate about student health and has spent the last two years
implementing the best health practices in the Army and ROTC.
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Reference
Seward, Block, Chatterjee (2018). Student experiences with traffic-light labels

at college cafeterias: a mixed methods study. Obesity Science & Practice.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5893474/pdf/OSP4-4-159.pdf