Posted on 08/20/2015 8:24:49 PM PDT by Tolerance Sucks Rocks
(CNSNews.com) - The Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010 changed the nutrition requirements for school lunches and breakfasts, but the U.S. Agriculture Department says the law also gives schools the flexibility to prepare meals that are "familiar to kids from culturally diverse backgrounds."
Blogging at the USDA website on Wednesday, Dr. Katie Wilson, deputy undersecretary for for food, nutrition and consumer services, hailed the nation's "diversity" of people, ideas, and culture: "One of the way culture is expressed is through the foods we eat," she wrote. "Our nation's school meals should be no exception."
Wilson said she recently participated in one of USDA's "Team Up For School Nutrition Success" training workshops, where she learned how school food authorities are finding creative ways to meet the government-mandated nutrition standards while preparing meals that are "tastier and more appealing for this tough audience."
"For instance, I learned that in Puerto Rico, it is common for children to eat arroz con habichuelas y carne de cerdo (rice and beans with pork). Schools are finding ways to prepare this same meal in a healthy way that satisfies the palates of children who are used to eating it at home.
"In the same way, school children in the Southwest region of the United States enjoy burritos and refried beans that are similar to what they might have at home. In West Virginia, schools have found ways to offer healthy versions of Southern-style cooking like sausage gravy and a long-time favorite in the state—the pepperoni roll.
"Our goal at USDA is to ensure children have access to nutritious food that nourishes their growing bodies -- all while embracing diverse cultural customs and cuisines. I’m confident that through cultural inclusion and nutritious choices, schools across America will pave the way for a healthier next generation," Wilson concluded.
Under the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act, school food preparation is an increasingly regulated industry. In March, the USDA published a rule, effective as of July 1, requiring a minimum amount of annual training for all school nutrition program directors, managers, and staff.
USDA said the training will vary according to the position and job requirements.
The rule also sets minimum hiring standards for new state directors of school nutrition programs, state directors of distributing agencies that oversee USDA Foods, and school nutrition program directors.
Amid the stricter nutrition standards and hiring criteria, participation in the National School Lunch Program has declined since the law was passed.
In 2010, the year the Healthy and Hunger-Free Kids Act passed, a record 31.8 million children participated into the National School Lunch Program, according to the latest data (as of Aug. 7, 2015). The same number -- 31.8 million -- participated in 2011, but then the number began to drop -- to 31.7 in 2012 (the first year the new nutrition standards took effect), 30.7 in 2013, and 30.4 in 2014.
The percentage of children getting free or reduced-price meals continues to increase, however: In 2014, 71.6 percent of children were getting free or reduced price school lunches, compared with 70.5 percent in 2013, 68.2 percent in 2012, 66.6 percent in 2011, 65.3 percent in 2010.
In 1969, the earliest year for which data is available, 15.1 percent of children were getting free or reduced price lunches.
As participation has dropped, costs have gone up. The cost of the school lunch program was $11,355,872,476 in Fiscal Year 2014, up from $10,414,118,759 in Fiscal Year 2012, partly because of rising food costs and a higher percentage of children getting free or reduced-price lunches.
As of Aug. 7, 2015, thirty-seven states showed declining school lunch participation in the three years since 2012, when the nutrition rules changed. In the remaining 13 states plus the District of Columbia, participation increased steadily only in North Dakota and the District of Columbia in those same three years.
In the remaining 12 states, participation dropped in 2013, then recovered slightly in 2014.
Nanny State PING!
I want briskets and gravy for breakfast
My school culture in the 1950s was peanut butter sandwiches and potato chips.
Why can’t Moochelle just STFU and let the local school districts plan their damned school meals?????
If you live in a predominately black district you will get black food, you live in a predominately polish district you get predominately polish cuisine.
sounds like the “problem” would work itself out if FED-GOV just got the FSCK out of the way!
I want briskets and gravy for breakfast
Sounds more like a dinner but it is still good,
As long as you use the right gravy.
Gee, maybe the black neighborhood schools should serve “soul food” for all meals to be culturally inclusive to the community, then after all the student die of cholesterol poisoning and heart attack at leash moochelle can pat herself on her fat backside for being culturally inclusive, right?
Or maybe just TRUST the LOCAL DISTRICTS to decide on their own.....
Nope... pro-regressives only trust top down power....
Can’t wait until they have North Korean Lunch Day.
They will give you a glass of water and tell you you should be thankful for that. And if you’re not, you could be shot.
Sounds more like a dinner but it is still good,
As long as you use the right gravy. ]
Briskets??? and Gravy?
Is this an Atkins diet thing?
Cause it sounds awesome....
We never had food fights the day we had tater totes. I wonder if these meals are causing more food fights?
This sounds like it came through a robot-generated feel good machine. And it says nothing.
This is probably the way to get halal food in the schools to accommodate the Muslims.
After high school I never saw succotash again.
I forget exactly but it was two vegetables I never ate, together.
Now there will be even more meals the kids will refuse to eat.
Prison food ping!
Rice and beans with pork will certainly be upsetting to the parents of Little Mohammed! Puerto Ricans vs. Muslims, both big-time Dim supporters...have at it!/s;)
When schools open next week all of the robot generated feel good machines should be pre-set to give bacon, lettuce and tomato sandwiches and ham sandwiches to all the Jihadist mooslim kids.
“Declining participation”?
In SoCal we feed half of Mexico with that program.
government-mandated nutrition standards ...
FR: Never Accept the Premise of Your Opponents Argument
The states have never delegated to the feds, expressly via the Constitution, the specific power to regulate, tax and spend for intrastate school nutrition purposes.
And speaking of the USDA, with the exception of food where buyer and seller are domiciled in different states or different countries, the Supreme Court has clarified that the states have never delegated to the feds, expressly via the Constitution, the specific power to regulate intrastate agricultural production.
From the accepted doctrine that the United States is a government of delegated powers, it follows that those not expressly granted, or reasonably to be implied from such as are conferred, are reserved to the states, or to the people. To forestall any suggestion to the contrary, the Tenth Amendment was adopted. The same proposition, otherwise stated, is that powers not granted are prohibited. None to regulate agricultural production is given, and therefore legislation by Congress for that purpose is forbidden [emphasis added]. United States v. Butler, 1936.
In fact, the post-17th Amendment ratification Senate should have protected the states, as the Founding States had intended for the Senate to do, by killing the bill which led to the establishment of the unconstitutional Healthy Hunger-Free Kids act of 2010 which was signed by lawless Obama. So once again the corrupt feds are rescuing the states with money that they stole from the states in the form of unconstitutional taxes, complements of the corrupt Senate.
Also note that the Senate wrongly ignored its Article V requirement to lead Congress to petition the states for an amendment to the Constitution which would have granted Congress the specific power to address intrastate school nutritional issues.
The ill-conceived 17th Amendment needs to disappear, and Constitution-ignoring senators along with it.
Has anyone noticed that Pei Wei no longer serves pork egg rolls? The new chicken egg rolls aren’t near as good.......I wonder if they came under pressure to get rid of all pork on their menu.
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