As per the guidelines formed in 2012 by the US Department of Agriculture, it is compulsory for students to take a fruit or vegetable with their lunch. An effort taken to improve children's health, but a new study has found that kids are throwing away their fruits and vegetables in trash bins rather than having it.

Study researchers have found that students are taking more fruits and vegetables with their regular meals, but the catch is they are throwing away the healthy items far more than the times they eat them.

It has been found that there has been a tremendous rise in the percentage of children with healthy options in their lunch boxes, which is now more than 97%. But along with this, there has been an increase in lunch-time waste.

Study researchers have used a digital imaging method that looked at 498 trays at 10 schools before the guidelines were sent and 944 trays at 11 schools after they were sent.

After evaluating both the scenarios, the researchers said that there has been a 13.3% rise in the number of students having a fruit or vegetable on their tray. Along with this, there has been an 11.8% decline in the amount being consumed. A 56% rise in the amount of total waste was seen coming from lunches.

"An important message is that guidelines need to be supplemented with other strategies to enrich fruit and vegetable consumption", said study's lead researcher Sarah Amin.