In a recent move to update the Children Nutrition Act of 1966, Sens. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), Arlen Specter (R-PA) and Lincoln Chaffe (R-RI), and Reps. Lynn Woolsey (D-CA), Christopher Shays (R-CT) and Nancy Johnson (R-CT) have sponsored the Child Nutrition Promotion and School Lunch Protection Act. Dozens of organizations, including the National Parent Teacher Association, Chicago, and the School Nutrition Association, Alexandria, VA, have endorsed the proposed legislation.
The bill's primary goal is to update the definition of "foods of minimal nutritional value," formulated by USDA in 1979, and to help ensure that all food sold or otherwise distributed in schools, whether in the cafeteria or a vending machine, meet those updated standards. Of particular note, the bill would require that the foods served as part of federal school breakfast and lunch programs conform to the updated nutritional standards. The bill would also redirect federal financial assistance for school breakfast and lunch programs to fund only programs that meet the new standards.
"Currently, the federal school meal programs will reimburse schools for ice cream, but not popsicles; candy bars, but not seltzer water. Schools can also be reimbursed for potato chips, snack cakes and donuts served in the cafeteria," says Senator Murkowski. "It just doesn’t make much sense."
In a statement last week supporting the legislation, the National Nutritional Foods Association (NNFA), Washington, D.C., notes that, according to current research, only 2% of children eat a balanced and healthy diet, and obesity is doubling in children and tripling in adolescents. The statement goes on to state that "NNFA hopes that the introduction of these bills will underscore the value of nutrition for our children and the need for regulations to address all foods sold within the school, the school campus, or foods made available at any time during the school day."
