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school lunch 
Wed Jan 19, 2011 at 22:59:36 PM PST
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In an expected and mostly uncontroversial move, the USDA just proposed new nutrition standards for school lunch. These are the rules that govern ONLY the food given out in the actual "school lunch" (i.e. what kids who are eligible for free or reduced cost lunch get) and not the a la carte items available in the lunch line or in vending machines. (There will be rules on the a la carte items but they are coming later.) You might have read the excellent piece about the new standards by Ed Bruske earlier this week, but if not, here's the quick and dirty on what the new rules require.
The new rules add maximum calorie limits to meals for the first time, gradually reduce sodium over 10 years (eventually reducing it by more than half), ban most trans fats, require more servings of fruits and vegetables, require all milk is low fat or nonfat and that all flavored milks are nonfat, and require more whole grains. Additionally, for breakfasts, schools must serve both a grain and a protein instead of one or the other. My favorite change is that the new rules require more variety in the vegetables served during the week. In other words, french fries served 5 days a week won't cut it. You'll have to serve something orange, something green, and some beans too.
However, these rules do NOT address sugar or - perhaps more significantly - added sugar. They also take no action to ban or limit chocolate milk or other flavored milks. Surely, if they had done either of those things, the rules would be more controversial than they are now. Rather than banning flavored milks outright, I think a limit on added sugars would be a good idea (with the understanding that the entire meal including flavored milk should not exceed the added sugar limit). My only worry is that a limit on added sugars would result in an increase of artificial sweeteners in school lunches.
To hear a pretty mainstream reaction to these proposed rules, you can hear an interview of the School Nutrition Association's Vice President-Elect on the radio show AgriTalk. It's a pretty simple interview with no real controversy, as you will hear. Perhaps the most significant and interesting point in the interview is the idea that parents can help by introducing their kids to homecooked foods and more types of veggies at home so that they will be more likely to eat them at school. (As Bruske notes, the kids often dump their veggies in the trash.)
All in all, I don't expect these rules to make too much of a difference in the quality of school food. The rule changes are a good thing, of course, and certainly a step in the right direction, but they are being adopted without providing the schools very much in the way of additional resources to meet the new requirements or to make any other perhaps more significant changes, like increasing the amount of whole foods or decreasing the amount of pre-processed foods that is merely defrosted, heated, and served. Those changes would require more training, labor, supplies, and equipment in addition to, of course, buying the actual food - and all of that takes money. Money is, of course, the one thing that the recently passed Child Nutrition Reauthorization did not provide. (To be accurate, the bill did provide an additional 6 cents per lunch, but that's nothing compared to what's needed.)
If you want to read the rules or submit comments to the government on the proposed rule changes, you can do so here. (If the link doesn't work, it's Regulations.gov with the Docket Number FNS-2007-0038-0001.)
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Thu Dec 23, 2010 at 00:52:33 AM PST
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Here's a list of what just passed, to the best of my knowledge:
1. Repeal of Don't Ask Don't Tell
2. START treaty
3. Tax cuts for millionaires and billionaires, i.e. "compromise"
4. The Shark Conservation Act (no more finning in US waters!)
5. The food safety bill
6. The Child Nutrition reauthorization (i.e. school lunch)
7. Aid to 9/11 first responders
8. Extending the federal budget til March
Did I get it all there?
OK, well first... what do you notice about this list of bills (perhaps leaving the Obama tax "compromise" beside)? None of them have any real enemies. There isn't a "We Hate 9/11 First Responders" lobby, with the exception of perhaps Bin Ladin himself (and if Congress is being influenced by him we have bigger problems on our hands). Nor is there a pro-E. coli lobby. And now even the top military brass is for the repeal of DADT.
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Thu Dec 02, 2010 at 14:35:05 PM PST
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After two years of advocacy, we're finally done. For now. The Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010 just passed the House, and it had already passed the Senate. Now it is going to Obama's desk. It's overall a pretty darn good bill, and it provides a LOT of much needed reform to the National School Lunch Program. For the first time, it even funds a Farm to School program. However, it only provides an additional $.06 per lunch, with a total of $4.5 billion in new money for all child nutrition programs over 10 years. All in all, this is great news, since it's not as if the next Congress would pass anything even this good. And, we can take the reforms we got and work for more money next time.
The House vote was 264 to 157 with 13 abstaining.
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Wed Dec 01, 2010 at 14:08:10 PM PST
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With only a few weeks left in the lame duck session of Congress, the House is looking to pass the Senate version of the Child Nutrition Reauthorization. While the Senate version is not as good as the House bill, at this point our choice is whether we'd prefer the Senate bill or nothing. And, given that choice, I'll take the Senate bill.
The House brought the Senate bill up for debate today and the Republicans decided to play politics with it. Thus, it won't pass until tomorrow. But if all goes well, it could pass tomorrow.
Steny Hoyer, the House Majority Leader put out the following statement:
"I am disappointed Republicans chose to play politics with a bill that enjoys strong bipartisan support and would increase access to school meal programs, improve the standards of food provided, and help reduce childhood obesity. The real purpose of this motion to recommit was to delay this bipartisan bill from being signed into law.
"We will complete action on the Child Nutrition bill tomorrow. We will bring up the Republican motion to recommit as a stand alone suspension bill. After that vote, we will return to the Child Nutrition bill where we left off, voting on the motion to recommit and final passage. This will allow a good, bipartisan bill to reach the President's desk without delay."
What's sadly ironic is that it's Hoyer and other deficit hawks like him who make it impossible to make this bill truly "increase access to school meal programs, improve the standards of food provided, and help reduce childhood obesity." The child nutrition bill is a great bill but for one thing: it needs money. And that's a fight that's just too big for us to win at the 11th hour. We'll have to take what we've got and then continue working for money in the next Congress (or more likely, in the Congress after that, since the next Congress won't do jack squat).
Meanwhile, S. 510, the food safety bill, might not pass the House due to a technicality, according to Roll Call.
UPDATE: See the comments below re: S. 510. Also, here's a statement from Rep. George Miller (D-CA) about the Child Nutrition bill:
"It is disappointing that Republicans decided to pull a political stunt to delay passage of this bill at the expense of the deserving children who need healthy meals. I look forward to completing action on this critical legislation tomorrow and sending it to the President's desk for his signature."
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Wed Nov 10, 2010 at 10:40:31 AM PST
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I'm assuming that by now you've gotten over your joy that Harry "Better Than Sharon Angle" Reid eeked out a victory in his election (god, what a low bar), and - like me - you're now bracing yourself for a Republican led House and hoping they don't make Kent Conrad the Chair of the Senate Ag Committee.
Well. Get ready to get excited for one more fight for something that's not quite what you believe in but, well, it's better than nothing. The Senate version of the school lunch bill.
OK, so it ain't perfect. But it does 2 of the 3 major things it needs to do. First, it sets stronger nutrition standards for school lunch. Second, it makes sure more hungry kids will get fed. And, third, well... it doesn't really give as much money as the lunch program needs. But it does give a whopping $.06 per meal and a total of $4.5 billion in new money over 10 years. And THAT is a LOT MORE THAN YOU CAN EXPECT FROM THE REPUBLICANS.
At first we were asking Congress for the perfect bill. Then we were asking them to at least pass the House version instead of the Senate one. And now, with little time left in this Congress, we're down to just asking them to pass the Senate. For this, you need to focus your action on the House (bug the Senate about the DREAM Act and repealing Don't Ask Don't Tell).
Details here. Take action by writing, faxing, or calling your Representative.
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Thu Sep 23, 2010 at 11:28:55 AM PDT
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Feeding Kids Better Food and Teaching Them About Food
Helps Them Make Better Food Choices!
For four years I was the Nutrition Services Director for Berkeley Unified School District. The four years was a roller coaster ride of changing the food from a menu of highly processed chicken nuggets, corn dogs, Extremo burritos, pizza pockets and grilled cheese sandwiches, all of which came to us frozen and prepackaged, to fresh food made from scratch. When I first started in Berkeley these pre-packaged items, which were served in the packaging, with sides of canned vegetables and canned fruit, with nary a serving of fresh produce in sight, were the mainstay of the menus.
Five years later the program looks very different. All of the food is cooked from scratch in the Central Kitchen at King Middle School by a team of trained chefs and cooks. Much of the food is procured regionally and seasonally, there are gardens in every school and cooking classes in most of the schools. Berkeley serves Universal Breakfast to every student, there are salad bars in every school, there is no vending, almost no ala carte and fresh fruit and vegetables are served every day.
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Wed Sep 01, 2010 at 15:42:18 PM PDT
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A Salad Bar in Every School!
The smells of back-to-school: freshly sharpened pencils, old leather seats of yellow busses, chalk dust, and lettuce? This fall, Whole Foods and Chef Ann Cooper, "The Renegade Lunch Lady," in conjunction with her Food Family Farming Foundation's premier project, The Lunch Box, have implemented a remarkable new program, which will change school lunch-rooms across the nation - The Great American Salad Bar Project. With rates of nutrition-related disease and childhood obesity on the rise, now is the time to start making positive change in the way we feed our children.
The initial phase of the Great American Salad Bar Project will raise enough money, via local Whole Foods Markets, thru in-store and online donations, to grant at least one salad bar a school within fifty miles of the store. That's almost 300 salad bars! Schools that meet the requirements are encouraged to apply on the Great American Salad Bar Project website for review and will be chosen by a simple set of criteria.
A salad bar in a school cafeteria provides a healthy option for students on a daily basis. A typical salad bar will include: fresh multi-colored lettuce, a variety of vegetable "toppings" such as beets, carrots, and jicama, proteins such as chicken, beans, cottage cheese or tofu, whole grains, fresh fruit and healthy salad dressings. One requirement for schools who wish to apply is that they participate in the National School Lunch Program. The National School Lunch Program is a federally funded program that provides low-cost or free meals to children across the country. Children who participate in the National School Lunch Program are often most at-risk for the effects of a poor diet.
School is a sacred space for learning, so why shouldn't this extend into the cafeteria? School meals should not only provide the nourishment children need to excel throughout the school day, but should also serve as a lesson in making life-long wellness choices. Offering salad at lunch helps to provide this lesson and teaches children to include a variety of fresh vegetables, fruit, whole grains and healthy proteins in their diet. The salad bar provides an array of options and allows students to try new items on their own. Often students will make choices from the salad bar and create delicious and colorful dishes to suit their taste.
The facts are simple: this could quite possibly be the first generation of children in our country's history to die at a younger age than their parents.
Government statistics show that 4.3 million children aged 10-14 will become overweight or obese in the next 24 months. In addition, it is predicted by the Center for Disease Control that of all children born in the year 2000, one-third will contract diabetes. These outrageous statistics can only be stopped by a massive overhaul of the way our children eat and the Great American Salad Bar Project is one giant step in the right direction.
Take this wonderful opportunity to do something good for yourself and your community. Take a trip to your local Whole Foods, purchase some of the healthy food they offer for yourself and your family, and then donate what you can to the Great American Salad Bar project. Know that with your donation you are participating in an effort to change the future health of our country.
Eat well, use your dollar to vote for healthy food, and help us change the way kids eat across the country for the better.
To donate online or to find out more about the Great American Salad Bar Project please visit our website at: http://www.saladbarproject.org/
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Sun Aug 22, 2010 at 02:09:50 AM PDT
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I've got the remains of a school lunch here with me. It was eaten by an 8 year old girl. Last year, she bought the school lunch every day but she said it's not good food and this year she wants to bring her lunch. So Mom packed her Sunny D, a granola bar, lunchables, and cookies. I've posted their ingredients and nutrition information below. (Consider this Exhibit A for why we need healthy school food that the kids want to eat.)
UPDATE: I've found nutrition info for 8 year old girls and added it below, at the bottom.
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Wed Aug 11, 2010 at 20:49:39 PM PDT
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I wrote up a piece on school lunch for another site but I'm cross-posting it here too (below). If you're a regular reader of this blog, much of what I wrote won't be new to you. But if you want the overall status of the child nutrition bill, read on.
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Fri Aug 06, 2010 at 13:48:27 PM PDT
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In an utterly stupid, harmful, and immoral move, the Senate found some "extra" money to cut to fund school lunch... in food stamps.
UPDATE: See Ezra Klein's analysis of this here
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Thu Aug 05, 2010 at 13:34:30 PM PDT
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It's amazing what happens when the First Lady writes a Washington Post op ed calling for the passage of a bill. The pathetically slow, broken Senate gets moving and actually passes it! At least, that's what happened in this case.
Blanche Lincoln's child nutrition bill just passed the Senate by unanimous consent. My god. The Republicans don't mind apologizing to BP or taking all kinds of other wildly unpopular positions, but even they won't vote against feeding hungry children.
The bill is flawed, primarily in its lack of funding for healthy school lunches, but it brings the National School Lunch Program far closer to perfection in just about every other way. The bill is not yet ready for Obama's desk. First, the full House needs to vote on Rep. George Miller's child nutrition bill, a bill that is slightly more generous than Lincoln's but still underfunded, and then the two chambers must reconcile their versions of the bill. We still don't know how the House bill will be paid for, as it must be before reaching the House floor. Thus, the questions remaining are: How much money will child nutrition receive, and where will it come from? The other question, of course, is whether the bill will pass before the deadline of September 30, but if the Senate has passed its version, I am hopeful.
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Fri Jul 16, 2010 at 15:04:05 PM PDT
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Joe Sestak was the sole Democrat to vote against starting an organic pilot program for school lunch in a party-line vote this past week. All of the Dems on the House Education and Labor committee voted for it - except Sestak. All of the Republicans voted against it.
Rep. Sestak - perhaps soon to be Sen. Sestak - why do you think that little, developing children's bodies should be exposed to pesticide residues in their food? Many pesticides are proven or suspected neurotoxins, carcinogens, and endocrine disruptors. And your state has a vibrant organic farming industry. You've done wrong by the kids, but you've also done wrong by the farmers of Pennsylvania.
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Thu Jul 15, 2010 at 18:56:57 PM PDT
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Today, the House Education and Labor committee passed its bipartisan Child Nutrition Reauthorization bill by a vote of 32-13. For those who are keeping score, there were three Republicans who voted for it.
Some of the biggest news for me are two great new pilot programs established with amendments added yesterday. First, there is an organic foods pilot program that provides $10 million per year between 2011 and 2015 to selected schools with high low-income populations. That was proposed by Lynn Woolsey and Dennis Kucinich and it passed by a roll call vote. My hunch is that the funding is discretionary, which means that the Appropriations committee gets to decide whether to fund the program or not. I'm trying to find the roll call vote to see who voted or and against this but I don't think it's online yet.
Second, Jared Polis proposed a vegan (plant-based) foods pilot program, which passed in a voice vote. Some schools will participate in a program offering kids "plant based protein" (a.k.a. whole grains, nuts, beans, and veggies) and then they will evaluate which foods are superior in cost-effectiveness, marketability to school food authorities, ease of preparation and use, and acceptance by the kids. Yay! Awesome!
Last but hardly least, the bill includes $50 million in funding for Farm to School grants.
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Wed Jul 14, 2010 at 13:49:22 PM PDT
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UPDATE: I got this one wrong when I first reported it. Apparently, Judith Biggert (R-IL), who represents the town where I grew up), never actually proposed an amendment. And that makes sense because I don't think her idea is within the jurisdiction of the Education and Labor committee anyway. She recommended lowering the amount of Adjusted Gross Income a farmer could make both on-farm and off in order to be eligible for subsidies. After she said it, I sent around an email to other ag policy geeks, including some who are even geekier than myself. They told me that AGI was a bad measure to go by to cap subsidies because anyone with a decent accountant could figure out how to duck under the law and qualify for subsidies anyway. A better idea, they said, were payment limits, capping subsidies at a certain amount (like $250,000). And that sounds good to me.
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Wed Jul 14, 2010 at 09:10:40 AM PDT
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The House Education and Labor committee will mark up and most likely pass the school lunch bill today. The markup is scheduled for 2pm Eastern Time and you can view it live here. Once they've passed the bill out of committee, the next step will be the House floor.
UPDATE: The markup will be live-tweeted @edlabordems using the hash-tag #CNR (which stands for Child Nutrition Reauthorization)
UPDATE: The markup will finish today but the vote might be tomorrow.
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