The U.S. Department of Agriculture really wants kids to eat better, especially during school lunches where parents have a lesser impact on what their children shove down their gullets. To that extent, it is spending $2 million researching how to trick them into picking healthier meal options.

Writes the AP:

Some of the ideas include hiding chocolate milk behind plain milk, putting the salad bar near checkout, placing fruit in pretty baskets and accepting only cash as payment for desserts.

On the topic of kid’s food choices, we’ve written about a study showing that kids think food tastes better if there is a cartoon on the packaging, as well as a program to put carrots in high school cafeteria vending machines.

School cafeterias to try psychology in lunch line [Boston.com]

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