Posted on 09/04/2015 6:10:41 AM PDT by PROCON
President and first lady Michelle Obama's bid to cut kid obesity through new demands for more costly but healthier food is financially crushing the nation's school cafeterias, forcing staff cuts, boosting waste and killing plans to buy new equipment, according to an industry association.
A new survey from the School Nutrition Association reported that 70 percent of the nation's lunch programs have been financially "harmed" by the new low-salt, low-sugar menus and that a stunning 93 percent report fewer students buying the chow.
"Meeting these mandates has harmed the financial health of nearly 70 percent of school meal programs surveyed, with fewer than 3 percent reporting a financial benefit," said the survey. Some 49 percent of the responding schools said they were forced to cut cafeteria staff as a result.
The financial threat to school food programs has become so grave that the association is calling on Congress to provide more money. The association said that schools are being ordered by the Agriculture Department to absorb another $1.2 billion in added costs resulting from having to buy more expensive — and less attractive — foods to meet the federal regulations.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonexaminer.com ...
I can't wait for these control freaks to be GONE!
Situation so grave they had to ask for more money.
Sounds like everything else the government does. Never mind fixing the underlying problem.
Vitamin enriched cardboard can only go so far.
You can't make an omelet without breaking some eggs!
This just shows the incredible lack of spine of U.S. citizens. Michele Obama is not elected to any government post. The schools should have contacted their congressmen and demanded that a law be passed that no federal funding should be taken away from schools that did not comply with these edicts from the emperor’s wife.
In Texas, the new Republican Ag Commissioner told the schools to go back to serving what the kids will eat, and he put the fryers back into the kitchens. (Of course, the Leftist Obamabots in Austin bemoaned this sensible change in direction, but no one paid attention to the tofu munchers because they vote Democrat anyway.) That is what every state should have done.
FWIW, I've been in a very few individual schools where those in charge do things right. They work with food distributors and offer healthy, high quality options. Where that happens, the healthier food is totally popular.
... 70 percent of the nation’s lunch programs have been financially “harmed”. ...
The plan is working as designed.
More unemployment directly caused by the Worst Family policies.
I thought schools could opt out of Michelle’s healthy school lunch plan but they would forfeit certain federal monies if they did.
Oh, this isn’t going away.
Schools will just do what colleges and universities have been doing for decades: set up “meal plans” and force students (their parents) to buy them.
You are correct, but so many districts are cash strapped to begin with, so they cave to the money and the kids suffer.
Why fat ugly-a$$ government people should STFU.
sounds like it’s time for The Affordable-School-Lunch-Act. A mandate to purchase school lunches. Whether or not you go to school or have kids who do, for the good of society we should all buy school lunches. Once that happens schools can raise the lunch prices and all problems will be solved.
The solution is so simple - just ask any Democrat.
One of the boys a linebacker near 200 lbs told me he was not permitted to have an orange juice if he bought a milk.
These kids start school at 7:30 in the morning and get home from practice around 7 PM.
Most of the kids bring their own lunch but its a sin they cant have a hot nourishing lunch.
Doesn't taste like chicken, either.
How “ironical”... the food emulates its namesake - tasteless.
These liberals are truly morons of unparalleled dimension.
How nice. The idiot “First Lady” just cares SO much about kids nutrition and meddles with school lunches so that now - KIDS DONT EVEN EAT LUNCH during their school day.
It’s true; my two high schoolers can’t bring their own lunch and won’t eat the crap that Wookie mandates. They hit McDonalds, Subway or Lil Caesars after school like most of their friends.
Epic FAIL for the beast.
Kids from 1st to 4th attended the school and in 5th grade you went to the big school.
We all took note that the principal of the big school always seemed to visit the little school at lunch time.
Oh what lunches we would have, Baked Ham, mashed potatoes, green beans, biscuits (from scratch), milk in glass bottles, and homemade cinnamon buns.
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