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States Sue Over Republican Cancellation of Healthier School Lunches
Healthier school lunch nutrition standards were one of Michelle Obama's signature programs.
Two years ago in May 2017, we posted that Secretary of Agriculture (USDA) Sonny Perdue set his sights on school lunches, postponing rules to make school lunches healthier.
In December 2018, the United States Department of Agriculture announced its final plans to lower nutrition standards that were part of the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010.
Now, the fight is on:
New York is leading a group of states — and Washington, D.C. — in a lawsuit against the Trump administration for reversing healthier school lunch nutrition standards introduced in one of Michelle Obama's signature programs.
California, Illinois, Minnesota, New Mexico, Vermont, D.C., and New York have asked the court to pause the administration's sodium and whole grain standards, citing concerns that students are ingesting too much sodium under the current rules, which allow schools to freeze sodium levels as they exist and opt out of whole-grain products.
One in five US children is obese, the US government says. With regard to school chidren not eating healthier school lunch items, 2 major studies from the past few years found that new standards for low-income students both improves diet and actually decreases food waste.
....rules required that schools must serve entirely “whole grain-rich” foods, meaning that the product — whether it is pizza, pasta or hamburger buns — must contain at least 50 percent whole grains.
Karen Perry Stillerman, a senior analyst with the Union of Concerned Scientists, said it was unclear why the Trump administration would backtrack when schools were in good standing with the nutritional goals. A 2016 news release from the U.S.D.A. said that more than 99 percent of schools in the country reported that they were meeting the Obama-era standards.
Sources:
http://smartdissent.com/article/republican-leadership-finalizes-cancellation-healthier-school
http://smartdissent.com/article/agriculture-department-lowers-nutritional-standards-school-lunches