Vegan school lunch options garner support on Change.org

January 11, 4:32 PMBoston Vegan ExaminerRyan Weaver

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The Obama Administration made history this year by soliciting ideas from the American public on Change.org, using a Reddit-like ratings system to decide the top 10 ideas to be presented to the administration after Obama takes the reins. The results have been fascinating, and in some cases surprising.

More people, for example, care about legalizing marijuana than about introducing a free single-payer health care system (10,023 vs. 8,286 votes, last time we checked). Marriage equality clocks in as the 5th most popular idea, above sustainability legislation. (See the rest of the Top Rated Ideas here.)

And one unlikely little-idea-that-could has garnered over 3,500 votes, placing it amongst the 20 Top Rated Ideas and making it one of the top 3 Agricultural Policy finalists: "Vegan school lunch options."
The plan, which you can view here, asks theObama administration to "require USDA to facilitate healthful plant-based school lunch options to promote public health, freedom from hunger, environmental quality, and kindness to animals."

The argument for this idea, written by Dr. Alex Hershaft of the Farm Animal Reform Movement, Inc. in Bethesda, Maryland, is as follows:

School cafeterias routinely serve meals laden with saturated fat, cholesterol, excess protein, hormones, drugs, and salt. This diet  flouts U.S. Dietary Guidelines and promotes obesity, diabetes, hypertension, other chronic conditions, and food poisoning.

Consider the following:

• School lunches contain 33% of calories from fat, including 12% from saturated fat, while U.S. Dietary Guidelines recommend 30% and 10%, respectively.
• Less than 15% of children eat the minimum daily recommended servings of fruit, and 35% eat no fruit on a given day.
• Only 17% of children consume the minimum daily recommended servings of vegetables, and 20% eat no vegetables on a given day.
• 15% of children ages 6 to 19 are overweight.
• 25% of children ages 5 to 10 suffer from high cholesterol, diabetes, high blood pressure, or other chronic conditions.

The Solution

A diet rich in fruits, vegetables, and grains is largely free of these problems and essential to good health. It supplies nearly all essential nutrients, contains little fat, fewer pesticides, and no cholesterol, hormones, antibiotics, or heavy metals. It also provides special nutrients that reduce the risk of cancer. It is conducive to more energy and improved academic performance.

A healthy diet for children is a critical indicator of future health,  because children's bodies are still developing, because their dietary choices are still being formed, and because their poor eating habits become lifelong addictions.

In addition to its obvious health benefits, a plant-based diet offers the only long-term solution to the world hunger epidemic. It avoids the massive deforestation, water pollution, and global warming caused by the meat and dairy industries. Last, but not least, it spares billions of cows, pigs, and other innocent sentient animals from the atrocities of factory farms and slaughterhouses.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has the ability and the obligation to provide a wholesome food supply for our nation, starting with our children. It should not be using the school lunch and other national feeding programs as a dumping ground for surplus commodities of the meat and dairy industries.

To the left of this text on Change.org, you can view the various organizations which have endorsed Hershaft's plea, which reads like a Who's Who of the online vegan movement.

Over 7,783 ideas were submitted to the site between Nov. 24 and Dec. 31, and since then the voting process has vetted this pool of ideas repeatedly. Over 250,000 votes were cast in the final round, which began on Jan. 5 and ends Jan 15. On Jan. 16, the top 10 ideas will be presented at the National Press Club. Then, the site reads, "Change.org and the Case Foundation [will] launch a national campaign behind each idea and mobilize the collective energy of the millions of members of Change.org, MySpace, and partner organizations to ensure that each winning idea gets the full consideration of the Obama Administration and Members of Congress."

It sounds as though there are no guarantees of action or change being promised here -- simply a promise that this plan may have a chance of being placed on the President's desk. But it's a start.

To vote, each person must register on the site. He or she is then given an allotment of 10 votes to use for anything from  There's still time to make yours count: visit Change.org/ideas to sign up and vote for your cause!