Excerpts from the report: Food served in schools is an important segment of the away-from-home eating market. Further expansion is likely to take place as new schools are constructed with modern cooking and cafeteria facilities and as school enrollments continue to rise. This study on food in schools was undertaken as a part of a broad program of research to expand markets for farm products. The research attempts to chart the current and potential size of the market for food in public elementary and high schools for food manufacturers and distributors as well as Department, State, and local officials responsible for school feeding programs. Of the 106,000 public schools below the college level, approximately 60,000 were offering a lunch service during the period July 1957 through June 1958. About 54,000 of the public schools with a lunch service participated in the National School Lunch Program. The sample consisted of 500 public schools having a food service. The schools were selected on an area probability basis and the sample data projected to universe totals. The basic purpose of the study was to determine the quantities and wholesale value of the different foods, both purchased and donated, delivered to schools, and the buying practices and market channels used in acquiring food.