Yesterday, I shared with you some new and troubling revelations published in BuzzFeed News about the integrity of the data underlying the USDA’s Smarter Lunchrooms program, which is the brainchild of Dr. Brian Wansink, director of the Cornell Food and Brand Lab.
Today, I wanted to share something here on The Lunch Tray that’s attracted attention on Twitter.
In 2011, I emailed Wansink to ask a question about the Smarter Lunchrooms initiative, which at that point was just being rolled out in schools. I wanted to know if he and his team had measured not just whether clever “nudges” induced children to take more fruits and vegetables from the lunch line, but whether they actually ate them.
To my surprise, instead of just answering my question, Wansink agreed to let me interview him for the blog. We conducted the interview by phone on March 30th and I took verbatim notes on my laptop as we spoke. I shared the transcript of our discussion on the blog the next day.
In that interview, Wansink seems to have openly admitted to me that Smarter Lunchroom techniques are, by and large, completely ineffective with children in elementary school. Here is the relevant excerpt, which comes just after the question where I asked about taking food versus eating it:
The USDA has spent almost $20 million in taxpayer dollars to fund and implement Smarter Lunchrooms research and, at least in my observation, Smarter Lunchroom techniques are used primarily in elementary schools.
Yet Wansink seems to have admitted that these techniques generally don’t work with this age group. This admission is all the more troubling given BuzzFeed’s finding that two of Wansink’s studies looking at children aged 8-11 (i.e., elementary school-aged) were in fact conducted with much younger children, preschoolers aged 3 to 5.
What should we make of all this? I’ll keep you posted here.
Do you love The Lunch Tray? ♥♥♥ Follow TLT on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram! You can also subscribe to Lunch Tray posts, and be sure to download my FREE 50-page guide, “How to Get Junk Food Out of Your Child’s Classroom.”
Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2017 Bettina Elias Siegel
Arnold says
Am I the only reader to find the tone of Wansink’s comments about elementary school students somewhat lacking in professionalism?
Bettina Elias Siegel says
I certainly can see why you’d say that (“gooblets,” “no frontal lobe,” etc.) but I will say that Dr. Wansink generally seems to speak in a freewheeling fashion, and this was in the context of a friendly back-and-forth on the phone.
Lindsey Parsons says
I’m loving your reporting on all of this. Great work!
Bettina Elias Siegel says
Thank you!
Mark says
Did Dr. Brian Wansink pressurize or cheat the USDA into using his research findings?
Did he profit from their use of his data?
Or perhaps the USDA came to him, thinking he was the brightest apple in the basket.
In this article he states:
https://www.motherjones.com/food/2018/09/cornell-food-researcher-brian-wansink-13-papers-retracted-how-were-they-published/
He added, “I believe all of my findings will be either supported, extended, or modified by other research groups.”
He seemed open and eager to talk to you. So I don’t think he was attempting to be deceitful, but rather considering his findings to be sort of like a rough draft that others could clarify.
The fact that he openly admits that elementals “don’t have a frontal lobe” seems to express his sloppiness and honesty about his work.
Bettina Elias Siegel says
Hi Mark – I can’t speak to how USDA came to use his findings, though I do note he used to work at the USDA before his time at Cornell, nor do I know the details of his financial relationship with the agency. And while I don’t interpret my conversation with him in the same way you do, I appreciate your coming by and sharing your perspective.