One of the most challenging things a parent has to do is nourish their offspring. Encouraging them to eat their vegetables and clean their plate is a parental refrain for the ages. Then the children go to school and have an array of vending machine products, like soda, processed snack foods and candy to choose from. Sound familiar?
Cash strapped districts are reluctant to lose a profitable fundraiser. Annual income from contracts between schools and vendors varies, with some schools raising as much as $100,000 a year, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures' Health Policy Tracking Service.
A legislative bill before Congress and the Senate has been sent to committees.
Child Nutrition Promotion and School Lunch Protection Act of 2009 - Amends the Child Nutrition Act of 1966 to require the Secretary of Agriculture to establish science-based nutrition standards for foods served in schools other than foods served under the school lunch or breakfast programs.
Applies such standards to all food sold outside such programs anywhere on school campuses during the school day, with the possible limited exemption of food sold at school fundraisers.
Requires the Secretary to: (1) consider the recommendations of authoritative scientific organizations and evidence concerning the relationship between diet and health when establishing the standards; and (2) review the standards as soon as practicable after the Department of Agriculture and the Department of Health and Human Services publish a new edition of the Dietary Guidelines for Americans.
Currently, both the House and the Senate have sent the bills to committees. The past two sessions have seen those bills die. Concerned parents have an opportunity to make their voices heard as three local elected politicians sit on the committees that will determine the fate of the Child Nutrition Act.
In the Senate, Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown is a co-sponsor of the bill. In the House, two local representatives sit on the committee, Representative Marcia Fudge, 11th district and Representative Dennis Kucinich, 10th district. Contact them to share concerns and opinions about this important act.
For more info: The bill has been been referred to committee. Congress will next meet on September 8, 2009. To read the full bill and follow its status in the legislature, click here. For a complete list of committee members, click here. The complimentary Senate bill has also been sent to committee.
Comments
Remember this one? I think it was a Reagan era pronoucnment. I remember being fed wonder bread with butter in lieu of a sandwich.
Thank you for that timely reminder why it matters! I wonder if ketchup contained HFCS back then? Another topic, for another day.
It would certainly be a step in the right direction. But the bill certainly provides a lot of wiggle room. I wonder on whose science the "scientifically-based" decisions will be made. Independent nutritionists or the guys in lab coats at Kellogg's?
It's unsettling to learn how many of the policy makers have ties to the food industry and how many of the nutritional guidelines are laid forth as a result of politics versus true health.
I am a good eater and both of my children are good eaters meaning that we/they eat a variety of foods and we all love our veggies, okra, squash, peas, string beans, cabbage, collards, et al.
The way you develop good eating habits in your kids, is first have good eating habits yourself. Second use fresh vegetables and do not over cook them. Rather than force or demand they eat something tell them to try it, if you don’t like it you don’t have to eat it forcing them to eat something is a sure way to get them not to like something.
This method may take a little time but before you know it, you will have a healthy eating kid.
Thank you, George, and welcome! I agree very strongly that as parents we should live by example. That is the driving force behind this column, in fact, that I practice what I preach and for my children, it will just always be the "way it is". So far, it's going pretty well.
I appreciate your research and included a link to this article in my recent column related to the recent national mathematics test scores.
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