EDITORIAL: School lunches

The provision of rice-based meals for school lunches is spreading at elementary and junior high schools.

Rice is on the menu at 99.9 percent of public and private schools. In fiscal 2007, rice-based meals were served three times a week on average. In fiscal 2008, the figure rose to 3.1, according to an education ministry announcement in January.

The school lunch program started with bread rolls and skimmed milk powder after the end of World War II. The menu has since changed drastically.

The program's purpose was finally changed from "nutrition improvement" to "dietary education" in the latest revision to the school lunch law that came into effect last spring.

Rice-based meals were officially introduced in 1976 as part of government efforts to promote rice consumption amid a growing surplus of the nation's food staple.

School lunches with rice offer a great opportunity for children to learn about the traditional Japanese diet and think about ingredients.

Only 5 percent of the schools nationwide serve rice-based meals on all five school days each week.

In 2003, the city of Sanjo, Niigata Prefecture, decided that rice would be the primary ingredient for school lunches. In 2008, the city stopped serving bread and noodle menus, which were offered a couple of times a month.

Some people were concerned that leftovers might increase as children became tired of rice. Still, statistics suggest that children have accepted rice-based meals.

In the current fiscal year, the amount of leftovers fell 8.8 percentage points at elementary schools and 9.2 percentage points at junior high schools, compared with fiscal 2003.

"Shindo Fuji," a phrase which means that human body and soil are one, was adopted as a slogan of the Shokuyodo dietary movement advocated by army doctor Sagen Ishizuka during the Meiji Era (1868-1912).

According to the movement, it was ideal to eat only food in season and grown within an area measuring 16 kilometers square.

The theory has much in common with the concept of "Chisan Chisho," or eating fish and vegetables harvested locally.

Rice-based school lunches promote the consumption of Japanese-style dishes comprising local vegetables and seafood.

Choosing local over imported food is also compatible with efforts to reduce "food mileage," or the distance food travels from field to plate, to cut down on carbon dioxide emissions.

More local products should be used in school lunches to give children an opportunity to learn how local farm products are used.

In 1985, the education ministry set a goal of providing rice-based school meals "about three times a week."

After the target was achieved, the ministry last year raised it to "three times or more a week." It did not adopt "four times a week" due to opposition from local governments concerned about increased equipment costs and from bakeries fearing a financial blow.

One idea to address these concerns and promote consumption of locally grown food may be to introduce bread products made from rice powder.

In fiscal 2008, Japan's per capita rice consumption stood at 59 kilograms, only half of the peak nearly half a century ago. The nation's food self-sufficiency ratio also fell to 41 percent in fiscal 2008 from 73 percent in fiscal 1965.

The figure is among the lowest in the industrialized world and in sharp contrast with the ratios above 100 percent for countries like the United States and France.

When thinking about dietary education, people should consider the plight of rice farmers suffering from declining rice consumption as well as the nation's low ratio in food self-sufficiency.

--The Asahi Shimbun, Feb. 15