http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/16/us/politics/congress-blocks-new-rules-on-school-lunches.html?ref=health
So Congress, continuing its stellar track record of really tackling the tough problems, blocked any changes that were proposed by the USDA to make school lunches more healthy.
Favorite pull quote:
"Food companies including ConAgra, Coca-Cola, DelMonte Foods and makers of frozen pizza like Schwann argued that the proposed rules would raise the cost of meals and require food that many children would throw away. The companies called the Congressional response reasonable, adding that the Agriculture Department went too far in trying to improve nutrition in school lunches."
So it's evil to improve nutrition? Good job Congress...way to totally bow down to big companies. And you wonder why you have people protesting across the country about the heavy hand of big business.
Oh, and FYI to food companies: putting more tomato paste on pizza is not going to drastically change the taste of your sub par frozen pizza either way. Also, if kids are only presented with healthy options, they will eat it. No kid is going to throw their entire lunch away every day because there aren't enough processed foods offered.
Not that it will happen but why can't we just get rid of school lunches?
ReplyDeleteI counter with this question- what about all those kids who parents can't or won't provide a lunch for them? It's not the kids fault who they end up with as parents. You can't punish kids for having bad parents, it will never work.
ReplyDeleteHave definitely watched 2/3 of everyone eating at the soup kitchen throw away the salad provided by the urban garden and not eat any of the fruit. These peeps were 100% reliant on the community kitchen to feed them, so they really didn't have any other choices either. A better strategy is just implementing a few healthier choices into the menu slowly rather than rabid-fire change.
DeleteI think slowly putting healthy choices in is good and I'm also curious to read more about these studies that are saying if you put healthy food pictures on their lunch menu, the kids pick the healthy option. Should we get rid of all junk? No, that won't work. But right now we've got a lot of talk about getting kids to eat better, but not much is happening. Oh government...
ReplyDelete