Posted on 01/27/2012 6:48:31 AM PST by Tolerance Sucks Rocks
Less salt and fat. More whole grains, fruit, veggies and low-fat dairy. This is what kids can expect in the school lunchroom soon, according to new nutrition standards for school meals announced today by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and first lady Michelle Obama.
"When we send our kids to school, we expect that they won't be eating the kind of fatty, salty, sugary foods that we try to keep them from eating at home," Obama said in a statement. "We want the food they get at school to be the same kind of food we would serve at our own kitchen tables."
And remember all the political shenanigans over pizza as a veggie? Yes, pizza can technically still count as one serving of veggies. But that slice of pizza won't be served alone. The new standards call for two servings of vegetables per meal. So the pizza will come with a side of carrots or green beans.
Chocolate milk made the cut, too, although from here on out it will be skim, according to a sample menu created to show what the new standards will look like once implemented.
"The new school standards are a terrific step forward," Margo Wootan of the Center for Science in the Public Interest told The Salt. "And they would have been even better if Congress had not meddled."
One example: French fries. Originally, the USDA proposed a standard that would have limited servings of the starchy potato. But Wootan explains that the potato lobby found friends in Congress to help scrap that provision. The result: French fries will likely remain a staple of the school cafeteria. But they're likely to be a little less salty.
Another change in store: setting limits on total calories for a meal. While there are still many children at risk of food insecurity or hunger, there's also the competing challenge of obesity. In trying to balance these concerns, the USDA decided to set a calorie range.
For instance, the USDA say elementary school kids should receive lunches between 550 and 650 calories, which is about one-third of daily recommended calories.
The price tag on the changes? $3.2 billion over the next five years, the agency says. But schools will get some help with those costs from the government — included in the package announced today is an increase of 6 cents per meal in reimbursement funds for schools. This is the first increase in reimbursement funds in 30 years.
Nearly 32 million kids participate in school meal programs every school day. In addition to revamping nutrition standards, USDA also recently began encouraging schools to partner with local farms to get more fresh fruits and vegetables into the lunchroom.
UPDATE 5:30 P.M.
The First Lady used a visit to a school cafeteria in Alexandria, Va. to talk about the new standards. And she also took the opportunity to nudge parents and teachers to be role-models for they're kids. She says that around her house, when she gets excited about something, her daughters get pumped up, too. And she says, in her experience, kids adapt to change so easily. "That's the beauty," she says.
As she pushed her tray down the lunch line and picked up the turkey tacos served with fresh salsa, brown rice, and whole grain flat bread, she told the kids that she has gotten her family into the habit of eating brown rice. And they all like it.
Parents who attended the First Lady's announcement at Parklawn Elementary say the nice thing about the healthy changes is that the school isn't scraping kids' favorite dishes. So for these elementary school kids, school food is cool.
"My son loves the taco," says Ellisa Simmons, mom to a kindergartener. And the switch to lower fat meat, brown rice and healthier sides isn't a big change.
Simmons says she's pretty sure the school lunch is better than what she can manage to pack in a brown bag.
"We're always so pressed for time" Simmons says it would be hard to get two veggies in a packed lunch. And with such healthy options at school, she says she won't even bother packing one.
LOL!
Don’t forget your coat :)
(you know, there really should be a Dept. of Clothing.../s)
Kobe beef, lobster and ice cream! Lots of ice cream!
It’s too hard for that mom to put two veggies in her kids’ lunch? WOW.
As I said in a comment on my local newspaper’s article on this the day she was at the school, institutional-style, over-cooked veggies have lost most of their nutrients, and most of the kids who need the few nutrients that remain are going to toss the green bean mush into the trash.
I live in Northern Ireland, UK half the year, and we don’t say Veggie.
I saw a chef on television use the word over and over and now I am hearing it in mainstream vernacular. It makes them sound like a bunch of five year olds.
There's the core of this entire matter. It is to build acceptance of total control of every aspect of life. The signers of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution would most certainly be highly disappointed in the results of their grand experiement in liberty and freedom.
On Fox, either yesterday or Wednesday, a guest said that there are some states or school districts which are now forbidding home-packed lunches. The children MUST eat government-approved food. Yikes!
Arizona may be quietly dropping a nuclear depth charge on this.
A bill is before its legislature that would allow schools to opt-out of the federal school lunch program. Doing so would save them a lot of money, and they would still serve food that is nutritious, and that the students, not queen Michelle, like to eat.
But it is far, far more than that.
For decades, the federal government has used the *threat* of pulling the federal school lunch program out of schools *unless* schools obeyed *endless* federal rules and regulations. Most of which were for expensive and stupid paperwork, and to take time away from students’ lessons for ignorant and biased “opinion surveys”, p.c. indoctrination, and other grotesque wastes of student and teacher time.
So if schools can opt out of the federal school lunch program, they can save a HUGE amount of money, because they no longer have to obey these dozens of federal demands.
They will be able to teach students better, as well.
But guaranteed, once the federal bureaucrats realize what AZ is doing, they will have a major panic attack. Odds are that Holder will sue AZ again, to FORCE them to continue with “voluntary” programs that were *never* voluntary.
Thanks, Michelle! By trying to force children to eat food that tastes like sea kelp and lawn clippings, you may have created the path for schools out of the federal morass.
I don't have a problem with schools deciding to serve what they consider "healthier" meals. They cross a line, though, when they try to require kids to eat them.
If a kid brings Ding Dongs to eat with his lunch (or even FOR his lunch), it is none of the government's darned bee's wax.
More of the low fat & high carb nonsense, only in this case actually trying to force kids to eat it.
Whole grains can raise blood sugar just as fast as refined carbs.
Well, I’m a bit of a Anglophile totally into the British cooking shows and I have heard them use it and it’s in my “cookery” books. Also, Two Veg is certainly an English/British expression. I think we went from Veg to Veggie in the wink of an eye. Who cares, anyway??
The fat a$$ed fraud needs to leave our kids alone and quit acting like we elected her for some imagined office. Instead she's flying around spending the taxpayers money while staying away from the sissy man that's her hubbie. Wonder if a certain SS agent is on the road with them.....
I thought the same thing. Lettuce and tomato on a sandwich (if the kid will eat it) and some raw veggies and dip. The kid probably ends up with more than 2 servings according to the government "charts".
Oh, but I forgot. . .the dip has too much fat according to the food police.
Well, they really don't understand the climate around here (North Dakota), that's for sure.
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