FLORA, Miss. – A Mississippi school district is considering a plan to outsource its food services after losing about $312,000 in lunch revenues since federal school food restrictions took effect in 2013.

Officials in Mississippi’s Madison County schools are in discussions with private food companies to take over the district’s food services program after the significant drop in sales the last two years.

School officials told MCHerald.com that since the federal restrictions on calories, fat, sugar, sodium and other aspects of school foods were implemented through the Healthy and Hunger Free Kids Act, students have opted to bring their lunch from home.

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The changes are championed by first lady Michelle Obama as a means of fighting childhood obesity through bureaucracy, but have resulted in more than 1 million students dropping out of the National School Lunch Program, more than $1 billion in food waste, and hundreds of districts foregoing their federal food subsidy to serve students foods they want to eat.

“The participation in our cafeteria program and food service program has dropped directly proportional to the caloric intake that is now required,” Madison County superintendent Ronnie McGehee told the Herald.

“ … You have to look at efficiency any place you can find it, and this gives us the possibility of being able to run it in a manner that’s still consistent with what we’ve been doing but with a little different product at the end of the day.”

Child Nutrition Director Sharon Thompson said the specialty cooking required with the federal restrictions may be best left to professionals.

“’And particularly with vat cooking, when you’re cooking a lot,’ it requires different recipes and techniques with which private companies may have more experience, Thompson said,” according to the news site.

“I think it’ll help because it’s better quality than we’ve got now. It’s going to give us a better product,” Thompson added. “Right now we’re limited to what’s on the state contract and what the state department has provided us with.”

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The quality is significant because 66 percent of the district’s lunch sales come from students who pay for the meals themselves, rather than receive free or reduced price federal subsidies.

“ … (W)hen you have that high of a percentage that purchases and then all of a sudden stops and starts bringing their lunch, it obviously hurts,” McGhee said.

Madison County school officials told the news site they took a cue from the Biloxi Public School District, which outsourced its food services over a decade ago, and currently works with Chartwells School Dining Services to provide school food.

“Biloxi’s chief financial officer said after outsourcing its food services 11 years ago, the district now has enough in its food service program to keep equipment up to date, and participation the lunch program has increased,” the Herald reports.