A Government Idea I Like

Recently, it has been very difficult for me to find Washington, D.C.-based ideas coming out of Congress that I like and support. Regardless of the topic, I usually find myself analyzing any ideas being considered by the federal government with an eye toward how they have passed food laws that have a record of failure. So, it was a pleasant surprise to review a major provision of the Child Nutrition Act, which not only allows the USDA to regulate school lunchroom nutrition standards, but also foods available in school vending machines.

I have always felt the above regulatory issue should be left to local administrators and food manufacturers. Unfortunately, although we have recently seen several industry efforts to address the issue of childhood obesity, we have been slow to respond. Yes, soft drink companies have voluntarily agreed to calorie reductions for their products dispensed via school vending machines, but most snack food manufacturers have not followed suit aggressively enough.

The U.S. Senate has passed the bill and it is now under consideration in the House of Representatives.

For my part, I hope the provision above makes it into law. I still firmly believe the solution to our overall obesity problem is portion control and exercise, but anything we can do to suppress the problem at its origin will be a plus. Most overweight adults started out as overweight kids.