I have had discussions about the food selection and the point has been made that the intersection
between healthy school food and food that kids will eat is very narrow.
We aim to educate the public on
why healthy school food is so important and highlight the school districts across the country that are working towards healthy change.
It is widely recognised that
healthy school food boosts academic attainment, enhances the wellbeing and behaviour of pupils, and helps tackle the rising obesity levels in school children.
It's called Lunch Money:
Serving Healthy School Food in a Sick Economy, and it intends to dispel «the myth that school food reform is cost prohibitive.»
The Chef Ann Foundation has reached over 7,000 schools and 2.5 million children with
healthier school food programs, but with over 98,000 schools in the U.S. and LOTS of highly processed food still on kids» lunch trays, we have our work cut out for us.
For the last year or so, the School Nutrition Association has been intent on creating the impression that school children are running away in droves from the new,
healthier school food mandated by the Healthy, Hunger - Free Kids Act.
Meanwhile, Betti Wiggins, executive director of the Detroit Public Schools Office of School Nutrition, makes the case for staying the course
on healthier school food in the Detroit News.
Rosenbaum also hides the ball from readers when he compares the cost of
funding healthier school food (an additional $ 1.22 billion over pre-HHFKA reimbursements, according to the USDA) to the skyrocketing costs of obesity ($ 200 billion dollars per year).
In addition to negotiating favorable pricing on food and supplies, Wechsler said the two groups will try to pressure food manufacturers to reformulate their recipes to create
healthier school food options.
Serving
healthier school food without sufficient funds remains a real challenge for districts, and it was left to Montague to make this important point in her rebuttal.
It's also a richly detailed, if depressing, behind - the - scenes account of how Big Food's lobbying dollars and the rancorous atmosphere in Congress have
made healthy school food, once supported by both sides of the aisle, a deeply partisan issue.
This background helps explain why 19 past SNA presidents recently took the highly unusual step of publicly breaking with their own organization to urge Congress not to roll -
back healthier school food standards.
* Many of us in the school food reform world have long predicted that elementary school kids would be the first to come around to
healthier school food because they haven't had years of seeing junk food in their cafeterias.
Back in December, the Los Angeles Times reported that kids in Los Angeles USD were spurning that district's new,
healthier school food menus — even to the point that some students were reportedly suffering from
For those following the battle
over healthier school food, here's the latest since my last update at the end of June («This Isn't Applebees: A School Food Update»): Will the SNA Change Course?
When I was a coalition leader advocating for a New York state bill that would mandate
healthier school food nutrition standards, I came up against the powerful New York chapter of the School Nutrition Association (SNA).
Maybe «Wilma» and others like her, who are the real heroes in the fight for better school food, who do their work day in and day out without benefit of media adulation or hundreds of throusands of outside dollars to support their programs, might find comfort and inspiration in making their own
Healthy School Food Continuum and reminding themselves of just how far they have come against overwhelming odds.
The EU is about to inject some more funding
into healthy school food programmes - presenting significant opportunities for industry.
The European Commission Joint Research Centre and Directorate - General for Health and Food Safety have presented a report to help authorities implement healthy food standards ensuring that they
procure healthy school food.
The lunch ladies he worked with here — they didn't have the power either, but he got a system up and running for fresh and
healthy school food before he went to the British government.
That's because, despite having supported the HHFKA's passage back in 2010, the SNA is now fighting vigorously to roll back in Congress many of the law's key nutritional requirements — and it is doing so on the grounds that kids are allegedly
rejecting healthier school food en masse.
The Healthy Hunger - Free Kids Act of 2010 led to incredible improvements in our nation's childhood nutrition programs, but upcoming reauthorization of the act could put key provisions
ensuring healthy school food in jeopardy.
And, perhaps most importantly, it could have come to Congress armed with new data showing that the vast majority of American parents — on both sides of the political divide —
want healthier school food.
Food waste and decreased program participation were entirely predictable consequences of
imposing healthier school food on children long accustomed to school meals laden with sugar, fat and salt, especially without mandated nutrition education to support the meal changes.
These efforts have been recognized with the leading national award for
healthy school food innovation, The Golden Carrot; the Washington Business Journal's Green Business Award for Innovation; and the DC Chamber of Commerce's Community Impact Award.
With Politico recently reporting that House members now feel only more emboldened in this quest after the November election, I just can't muster much optimism that the
current healthy school food nutrition standards will remain intact.
Calling All Moms: Here's How YOU Can Make a Difference in the Fight for
Healthier School Food Taking a Stand Against Junk Food in School: Why It's Hard — But We Need to Anyway!
The survey found that since 2014, when the majority of updated nutrition standards for school meals were in effect, more school meal programs have launched initiatives to
market healthier school food choices and increase their appeal among students.