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my 9 yr old and his buddies say the firied cheese sticks suck and the frito pie plate is awful.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Congress wants to keep pizza and french fries on school lunch lines, fighting back against an Obama administration proposal to make school lunches healthier.
The final version of a spending bill released late Monday would unravel school lunch standards the Agriculture Department proposed earlier this year, which included limiting the use of potatoes on the lunch line and delaying limits on sodium and delaying a requirement to boost whole grains.
The bill also would allow tomato paste on pizzas to be counted as a vegetable, as it is now. USDA had wanted to prevent that.
Food companies that produce frozen pizzas for schools, the salt industry and potato growers requested the changes, and some conservatives in Congress say the federal government shouldn't be telling children what to eat.
Republicans on the House Appropriations Committee said the changes would "prevent overly burdensome and costly regulations and to provide greater flexibility for local school districts to improve the nutritional quality of meals."
School districts had said some of the USDA requirements went too far and cost too much when budgets are extremely tight. Schools have long taken broad instructions from the government on what they can serve in federally subsidized meals that are served free or at reduced price to low-income children. But some schools have balked at government attempts to tell them exactly what foods they can't serve.
Reacting to that criticism, House Republicans had urged USDA to completely rewrite the standards in their version of the bill passed in June. The Senate last month voted to block the potato limits in their version. Neither version included the language on tomato paste, sodium or whole grains, which was added by House-Senate negotiators on the bill.
The school lunch proposal was based on 2009 recommendations by the Ins ute of Medicine, the health arm of the National Academy of Sciences. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said they were needed to reduce childhood obesity and future health care costs.
Nutrition advocate Margo Wootan of the Center for Science in the Public Interest said Congress's proposed changes will keep schools from serving a wider array of vegetables. Children already get enough pizza and potatoes, she says. It would also slow efforts to make pizzas — a longtime standby on school lunch lines — healthier, with whole grain crusts and lower levels of sodium.
"They are making sure that two of the biggest problems in the school lunch program, pizza and french fries, are untouched," she said.
A group of retired generals advocating for healthier school lunches also criticized the spending bill. The group, called Mission: Readiness has called poor nutrition in school lunches a national security issue because obesity is the leading medical disqualifier for military service.
"We are outraged that Congress is seriously considering language that would effectively categorize pizza as a vegetable in the school lunch program," Amy Dawson Taggart, the director of the group, said in a letter to members of Congress before the final plan was released. "It doesn't take an advanced degree in nutrition to call this a national disgrace."
Specifically, the provisions would:
— Block the Agriculture Department from limiting starchy vegetables, including corn and peas, to two servings a week. The rule was intended to cut down on french fries, which some schools serve daily.
— Allow USDA to count two tablespoons of tomato paste as a vegetable, as it does now. The department had attempted to require that only a half-cup of tomato paste could be considered a vegetable — too much to put on a pizza. Federally subsidized lunches must have a certain number of vegetables to be served.
— Require further study on long-term sodium reduction requirements set forth by the USDA guidelines.
— Require USDA to define "whole grains" before they regulate them. The rules would require schools to use more whole grains.
Food companies who have fought the USDA standards say they were too strict and neglected the nutrients that potatoes, other starchy vegetables and tomato paste do offer.
"This agreement ensures that nutrient-rich vegetables such as potatoes, corn and peas will remain part of a balanced, healthy diet in federally funded school meals and recognizes the significant amounts of potassium, fiber and vitamins A and C provided by tomato paste, ensuring that students may continue to enjoy healthy meals such as pizza and pasta," said Kraig Naasz, president of the American Frozen Food Ins ute.
The school lunch provisions are part of a final House-Senate compromise on a $182 billion measure would fund the day-to-day operations of the departments of Agriculture, Commerce, Justice, Transportation and Housing and Urban Development. Both the House and the Senate are expected to vote on the bill this week and send it to President Barack Obama.
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http://news.yahoo.com/congress-pushe...045719660.html
Last edited by RandomGuy; 11-15-2011 at 01:02 PM.
my 9 yr old and his buddies say the firied cheese sticks suck and the frito pie plate is awful.
the federal government dictating what my local school district serves its children. If I am concerned about what they are eating, I'll pack them a lunch.
I think it's disgusting that kids can eat junk food like french fries in school where parents can't stop them. And that's what everyone eats: fries, chips, sodas and all other kinds of crap when parents aren't there to say no.
Have you seen what most parents let their kids eat while they sit right in front of them? Besides, our district HAS a healthy school lunch program; the kids don't eat THOSE meals. They go over to the "extras" counter, and eat the crap being SOLD there. Cash cow for the district; they'll put whatever kind of tree bark and gruel the feds dictate on the "official" lunch; then they'll offer (and the kids will get) the good stuff in another part of the cafeteria.
So you're ok with the districts selling kids' health down the line for their cash cow? Of course kids are going to buy french fries that have been marketed to them as fun to eat since birth and sugary crap like slushes and cokes.
No kidding.
And WTF is wrong with having a slice of pizza and some fries now and then?
Nothing. Eating fries, chips, and a soda for 1 meal a day, 5 days a week is a major problem.
Obama doesn't even have enough political clout to push healthy lunchroom food for kids.
Nothing. It's having the slice of pizza and some fries 5 days a week for the whole school year. Washed down with a soda.
And they aren't dictating what your kids eat. They're just making sure that the choices they are offering are healthier.
I don't have any problems with this given the poor health that a lot of kids are in.
Lol Darrin is fat.
Dude, stfu. This is a wrong time to be screaming smaller government. With the obesity problem going on in America, a healthier school lunch is a plus.
WHAT THE IS WRONG WITH PROVIDING A HEALTHY LUNCH!?!?
NHBLI wants to test kids 9 years old for cholesterol
Controversy Over Cholesterol Testing for Children
New guidelines from the NHLBI and the American Academy of Pediatrics recommend that all children between the age of 9 and 11 should undergo cholesterol screening. $$$$$!!
Screening should then be repeated at 17 and 21 years of age. The new guidelines are scheduled to be officially introduced by panel member Patrick McBride at the AHA in Orlando on Sunday.
“Previous targeted screening missed more than 50 percent of children with high cholesterol,” McBride told ABC News. “Atherosclerosis begins very early in life, even in infancy for children with genetic cholesterol problems. So increased screening is a necessary step.”
http://cardiobrief.org/2011/11/12/co...-for-children/
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And of course kids with high cholesterol will get statins, like 5 mg "well tolerated" (in adults, but all statins have side effects) Crestor at $300/month, for years.
BigFood and USDA pump out total food-like dead garbage and market it to kids, generating new patients for the Medical Industrial Complex.
Cholesterol itself is a huge scam going back to the 1950s based on one erroneous study.
SO your ok with the government playing this bickering game when children's health are at stake?Obama doesn't even have enough political clout to push healthy lunchroom food for kids.
Healthy food doesn't have to be bland, tasteless, repulsive.
A huge problem is that BigFood has spent $100Ms for years tweaking grease/sugar/salt/chemical combos in their garbage to be very mouth-satisfying with no concern of, even detriment to, nutritive value or health, so that anything natural presented to jaded, over-stimulated palates is not as tasty.
Last edited by boutons_deux; 11-15-2011 at 04:09 PM.
I fondly remember my high school lunches which consisted of a Dr. Pepper, a cold honeybun, and a big fat reefer.
Yup, they are basically chemist adjusting different elements to trick your brain to how the food should taste.
So, without this law, kids have no choice but pizza, fries, and soda 5 days a week?
BTW, if your kids are obese, odds are, it's not the school food.
ty school food is a contribution to these fat ass kid's diets no doubt. The kids are there for 8 hours! That's ty breakfast AND lunch. After the kids eat, where do they go? They sit in classrooms.
You didn't answer the objection; do you think it's good for kids to have fries, chips, and sodas as their entire lunch 5 days a week? If you don't think that's the daily lunch for a lot of kids who have the choice of snack bars, then you're delusional.
It was more a commentary about the drastic decline of the president's ability to influence policy. As for the issue itself...it's hard to defend the call for pizza tomato paste as a veggie, but I do see it as overreaching by the federal government.
Looks like they have a LOT of choices. Thanks.
so you are ok with the local district dictating what its children should be eating.
that's what I was going to respond to your first sentence with.If I am concerned about what they are eating, I'll pack them a lunch.
I'm not sure I've ever seen someone gripe then explain to himself how to handle his own gripe all within a span of two sentences.
Incredible effort.
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