Standards for School Nutrition are Needed for Student Success, Witnesses Tell House Education Panel
WASHINGTON – Public schools have a distinct responsibility to ensure the meals they serve our children are nutritious, well-balanced and tasty enough that our kids actually want to eat them, witnesses told the House Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Elementary, and Secondary Education.
Today’s hearing comes as the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced final standards this morning to ensure that children have access to healthy “competitive food” options while in school. Competitive foods are snacks and beverages sold outside of the school breakfast and lunch programs, such as through vending machines, a la carte lines and school stores. It is the first federal update to these foods in 36 years.
“I applaud the Department of Agriculture for taking the necessary steps to ensure that children in this country have a chance to live healthy, productive lives,” said Rep. George Miller (D-Calif.), the senior Democrat on the committee. “Making sure that snacks and beverages sold outside of school cafeterias are healthy and nutritious, and that children and their families have access to these foods, will make a huge difference in our schools, for our children and for the future of our country.”
For too many families struggling in this economy, the only chance their child has to eat a healthy meal comes in the school cafeteria. Numerous studies have shown that when children don’t have enough nutritious food to eat, it can have serious negative effects on many aspects of their lives including their health and their ability to learn. For example, a 2005 study published in the Journal of Nutrition found that children who lack reliable, healthy meals in kindergarten are noticeably behind their peers in reading and math by the third grade. In addition, a 2008 study published in the Journal of School Health found that children with healthy diets perform better in school than children with unhealthy diets.
“It is our moral imperative to ensure that kids are getting the healthy meals they need to be able to succeed in school and throughout life,” said Rep. Bobby Scott (D-Va.), the ranking member’s designee of the Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Elementary, and Secondary Education. “We must make sure that the country's future doctors, nurses, teachers, engineers, and business owners are being put on a path to success, and providing them with nutritious foods is very much part of that obligation.”
School districts throughout the nation have successfully implemented the new meal standards over the past year, according to analyses supported by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. These districts have had steady student participation and revenue, increased student consumption of fruits, vegetables and whole grains, and offered more foods made from scratch. Such positive outcomes resulted from student engagement; staff and parent education about how to make the changes and why they are needed; and with school gardens and greenhouses to grow vegetables.
“USDA’s updates to the school meal standards are long overdue, are achievable, are critical to our children’s health, and will maximize the taxpayer investment in these important child nutrition programs,” said Margo Wootan, director of nutrition policy at the Center for Science in the Public Interest. “We need to give some schools and students a little more time to adjust, and ensure that struggling schools get the technical assistance they need to join the thousands of schools that are successfully serving healthy school meals to students.”
In 2010, Congress passed the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act to improve school nutrition standards and other child nutrition programs by ensuring that students have access to healthy foods while at school. Unfortunately, the Republican Majority in the House included a provision in a spending bill to roll back USDA’s efforts to improve the quality of school meals for students. The legislation blocked USDA from limiting starchy vegetables to two servings a week (the standard was intended to cut down on French fries, which some schools serve daily) and allows school districts to count two tablespoons of tomato paste as a vegetable, which means that pizza can continue to be considered a vegetable. Committee Democrats strongly oppose these provisions and remain committed to ending the obesity crisis to help children succeed in school and live healthier lives.
Next Article