In U.S., kids being paid to eat their veggies

When the U.S. federal government put an extra $5.4 million worth of fruit and veggies a day on the menu for school kids, some $3.8 million was thrown away daily. So two professors decided to see if "paying" students with small incentives to eat at least one fruit or vegetable helping would eliminate waste. Payment incentives included a nickel, quarter or a raffle ticket that children could claim every day if they ate their fruit or vegetable. Results showed that bribery with prizes worked: 15 schools showed that produce consumption went up by 80%, with discarded veggies decreasing by 33% with the prize for produce model. Interestingly, when the incentives stopped, the produce eating vs. produce dumping ration remain unchanged with .a third of students still eating fruits and vegetables before the experiment and about a third were eating them after. To read more, go here.