Well republicans don't want healthy children.

[doggie]

Seems republicans think the salt and potato and pizza industry should make the food guidelines.

 

WASHINGTON (AP) - Congress is unraveling the Obama administration's attempt to make school lunches healthier, pushing back against Agriculture Department efforts to limit french fries and pizzas, reduce sodium and boost whole grains on school lunch lines.

 

The final version of a wide-ranging spending bill released late Monday would force the department to drop an attempt to limit servings of potatoes per week, delay proposed limits on sodium and delay a requirement to boost whole grains. The department proposed the standards earlier this year.

 

The spending bill also would allow tomato paste on pizzas to be counted as a vegetable, as it is now. The department's proposed guidelines would have attempted to prevent that.

 

The changes had been requested by food companies that produce frozen pizzas, the salt industry and potato growers. Some conservatives in Congress have called the push for healthier foods an overreach, saying the government shouldn't be telling children what to eat.

 

In a bill summary released Monday, Republicans on the House Appropriations Committee said the changes would "prevent overly burdensome and costly regulations and to provide greater flexibility for local school districts to improve the nutritional quality of meals."

 

House Republicans had urged the USDA to completely rewrite the standards in their version of the bill passed in June. The Senate last month voted to block the potato limits in their version. Neither version included the language on tomato paste, which was added by negotiators on the bill from both chambers.

 

School districts had also objected to some of the requirements, saying they go too far. Schools have long taken broad instructions from the government on what they can serve in federally subsidized meals that are served for free or reduced price to low income children. But some schools have balked at government attempts to tell them exactly what foods they can't serve.

 

The school lunch proposal was based on 2009 recommendations by the Institute of Medicine, the health arm of the National Academy of Sciences. When the guidelines were proposed in January, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said the effort was necessary to stem the tide of childhood obesity and to prevent future health care costs.

 

Nutrition advocate Margo Wootan of the Center for Science in the Public Interest says the changes proposed by Congress will prevent schools from serving a wider array of vegetables. Children already get enough pizza and potatoes, she says. It would also slow efforts to make pizzas - a longtime standby on school lunch lines - healthier with lower levels of sodium and whole grain crust.

 

"They are making sure that two of the biggest problems in the school lunch program, pizza and french fries, are untouched," she said.

 

The school lunch provisions are part of a final House-Senate compromise on a $182 billion measure would fund the day-to-day departments of Agriculture, Commerce, Justice, Transportation and Housing and Urban Development. Both the House and the Senate are expected to vote on the bill this week and send it to President Barack Obama.

[emmiedahl]

I think the school lunch program should run the Senate cafeteria. Then we would see some changes.

Can I just say that my children have amazing school lunches, with two fruits and two vegetables at every lunch? All whole grains, lots of fresh stuff. It's good because we depend on those school lunches. Every kid everywhere should be fed the best food we have to offer. They need good nutrition to learn properly.

[dawbs]

" ....saying the government shouldn't be telling children what to eat."

This is where they loose me in the 'logic.'

I have some leanings that make me say "right, the gov. shouldn't tell us what to eat--especially kids"...but this is GOVERNMENT FOOD. They're *feeding* kids this food. By virtue of the program existing, they're already 'telling' kids what to eat. So since we're giving kids food advice, shouldn't it be good?

(I understand, more and more, why, money aside, my parents packed a lunch for school and insisted it was healthier. Even PB&J for 1 meal a day, 5 days a week, all year ...I'm fairly sure mom wasn't completely nutty, it probably was healthier)

[emmiedahl]

They are already "telling the kids what to eat" and they are telling them to eat pizza and french fries. :(

[docmom]

People don't want the ebil government (which they voted for) telling them what to do, but are just fine with having big corporations run their lives.

[genericJname]

That evil government, infringing upon the inalienable rights of 7 year olds to eat french fries. :x

[liltwinstar]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't school lunches a set meal for the day? Like tuesday is hotdogs, wednesday is pizza, stuff like that?

Anyway, I guess if the schools were running giant buffets at lunch time I could see people getting all worked up about "choice" being taken away (maybe). If they're taking about replacing french fries with fruit and veg sometimes, that *adds* choice, right?

I don't tend to get hysterical about kids eating french fries sometimes. I think that all foods that one enjoys should be consumed in moderation as a way of preventing the restrict/binge cycle. That said, when you're only offering french fries and tater tots at lunch, that's restricting choice, not offering choices.

[emmiedahl]

I don't know how it works in other places because, like I said, we have awesome school lunches. My elementary school children choose between two main dishes and then can take whatever sides they want. There is usually one starch side, two fruits, and two veggies. The high schoolers have more like 5-6 main dish choices and a salad bar.

Yesterday, my daughter had a turkey on whole wheat sandwich with an apple, carrot sticks and nonfat milk. She hates salad so she never goes that route, but the second grade son has a huge salad almost every day.

[gardenvarietycitizen]

Here's a page with school lunches from around the world: http://interestingemailforwards.blogspo ... world.html

[nuri]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't school lunches a set meal for the day? Like tuesday is hotdogs, wednesday is pizza, stuff like that?

Anyway, I guess if the schools were running giant buffets at lunch time I could see people getting all worked up about "choice" being taken away (maybe). If they're taking about replacing french fries with fruit and veg sometimes, that *adds* choice, right?

I don't tend to get hysterical about kids eating french fries sometimes. I think that all foods that one enjoys should be consumed in moderation as a way of preventing the restrict/binge cycle. That said, when you're only offering french fries and tater tots at lunch, that's restricting choice, not offering choices.

At the (middle) school I worked at, there were things that were there every day: soft pretzels, disgusting looking salad, peanut butter and jelly sandwich, milk and chips, that sort of thing.

The "hot meal" was a number of different dishes that rotated on a more or less monthly basis. They generally consisted of some sort of fried potato, a processed tomato product, and processed meat product (chicken nuggets), a small amount of fruit and a tiny amount of an actual veggie.

Basically, they consisted of carbs and nothing but. And talking with my friends and the blog Fed Up with Lunch, it's a pretty good assesment of school lunches in general.

[Patsy]

Here's a page with school lunches from around the world: http://interestingemailforwards.blogspo ... world.html

Holy shit, thanks for that. DAGWOOD DOGS, CHICKEN NUGGETS, POTATO GEMS AND POTATO CHIPS in SCHOOL LUNCHES? I mean, I'd read descriptions, but something about seeing a DAGWOOD DOG on a cafeteria tray really hammers it home.

[JJDiver]

I think the school lunch program should run the Senate cafeteria. Then we would see some changes.

I agree. Maybe the Senate should also have to participate in Social Security. If they participated, I bet the program would be in better shape.

Glad your kids have a good lunch program at there school.