school food
Perdue completes overhaul of school food rules
In 2017, on just his sixth day in office, Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue made chocolate milk safe for schools again, along with white flour and salt, in the name of “regulatory flexibility” for school food programs. On Thursday, the USDA said it will make those changes permanent.
How Oakland became a leader in cutting school food waste
Among the 40 percent of all food thrown out is this statistic: America’s school lunch programs waste $5 million in food every day. FERN’s latest story, published with Grist, focuses on Nancy Deming of the Oakland Unified School District, a leader in the movement to cut school food waste and redirect the food to students and people in need. Here’s the main take-aways:
Slower growth in school breakfast participation
About half as many children take part in the school breakfast program as the more than 30 million who eat a hot meal through the school lunch program, according to USDA's most recent data. The government and the anti-hunger group Food Research and Action Center say that participation in school breakfast grew at a slower rate during the 2016-17 school year than it did in previous years.
Food company coaches schools on ‘whole-grain waiver strategy’
A food service management company that operates in 600 U.S. school districts is offering them, in the words of its vice president for nutrition, “instructions” on how to get a waiver from the USDA requirement to serve whole-grain-rich bread, pasta, and baked goods to their students, said The Lunch Tray.
Local and diverse can displace flavorless and generic in school food
The cafeteria menus in many public schools "suggest a universal idea of what constitutes American food," with tacos as an ethnic crossover, says Civil Eats. "Now, change is under way. Cafeterias have begun to incorporate ingredients like wild rice and buffalo and serve items ranging from poi to fajitas."
Fifteen New York City schools to adopt Meatless Monday
Beginning next spring, 15 schools in Brooklyn — a sliver of the 1,800 public schools in New York City — will participate in the Meatless Monday campaign by serving vegetarian breakfasts and lunches, city officials announced. Mayor Bill de Blasio said the mayor's residence, Gracie Mansion, also would go meatless for its Monday meals.
Three more districts join big-city alliance that stresses healthy school food
School districts serving Philadelphia, Baltimore and Las Vegas joined the Urban School Food Alliance, which now serves 3.6 million students in 10 of the largest U.S. districts with a combined $735 million a year in purchases of food and supplies. The alliance launched a procurement initiative in 2014 for antibiotic-free chicken, and said this year that its members would not relax school lunch standards despite a USDA offer of flexibility on salt and whole grains.
For Texas high school students, a low-cal latte before first period
Timber Creek High School in Keller, Texas, opened a coffee bar that sells lattes, mochas and iced blended coffee drinks along with muffins and fruit cups to students, joining several other schools in the Forth Worth area that offer the caffeinated perk, reports the Star-Telegram. "We have a generation that drinks coffee," said a food-service manager for the Keller schools who oversees the coffee shop.
USDA eases food stamp, school lunch rules in wake of hurricanes
With classes resuming in Texas following Hurricane Harvey, schools have federal approval to serve free meals to all of their students through the end of this month, said the USDA, which also relaxed its rules on when meals can be served and what qualifies as a meal. Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue said the goal was " to make it as easy as possible to administer the school meals programs at this time to ensure that no child affected by this disaster goes hungry.”
USDA eases food-stamp rules in Texas in response to Harvey
The 3.75 million food stamp recipients in Texas are cleared to buy hot food with their benefits through Sept. 30 because of damage from Hurricane Harvey and schools in the disaster area can serve free meals to all of their students, said the USDA. Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue said President Trump "made it clear ... that process and paperwork can wait until later."
Alliance declares 323 schools as America’s healthiest, based on meals and exercise
The anti-obesity Alliance for a Healthier Generation named 323 schools across the country as "America's healthiest schools," based on offering healthy school meals and ensuring physical activity each day. Nearly half of the schools were from Texas, California, Georgia and Arizona. "Schools earned the distinction by successfully meeting a rigorous set of criteria for serving healthier meals and snacks, getting students moving more, offering high-quality physical and health education, and empowering school leaders to become healthy role models," said the alliance.
Food-waste bill would tackle problem nationwide
A new bill introduced by Sen. Richard Blumenthal, a Connecticut Democrat, and Rep. Chellie Pingree, a Maine Democrat, aims to lower food waste nationally by targeting schools and federal food vendors.
USDA slowdown of school lunch rules ‘says that we listened’ — Perdue
Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue mixed humor, keen political rhetoric and "a fiercely unapologetic tone" as he explained why he ordered a slow down in USDA school food rules in one of his first decisions in office, says the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Perdue defended the decision during a speech to the School Nutrition Association, which represents school food directors.
Perdue calls it a slowdown, critics say it’s a rollback of healthy school lunch rules
When the 2017/18 school year opens in late summer, public schools will not have to use more whole grains and less salt in their cafeteria meals unless they want to, and they will be allowed to sell 1 percent flavored milk, said Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue. Although he said he was giving schools more flexibility, consumer groups and lawmakers said Perdue was rolling back school-lunch reforms launched under an Obama-era initiative against child obesity.
Now antibiotic-free, chicken is back on the menu in Los Angeles schools
For more than a year, chicken has been a rare item in Los Angeles public school cafeterias, reflecting the school board's policy to hold vendors responsible for animal and worker welfare among other things and the challenge of finding enough food for the nation's second-largest school system. The Los Angeles Times says chicken tenders, patties and frankfurters will be back as soon as May now that three new vendors are under contract.
Conaway: Work requirements will be salient part of food stamp reform
House Agriculture Committee chairman Michael Conaway said his plans for "meaningful reforms" in food stamps, namely limiting access to benefits and stringent work requirements, "may very well make the 2018 farm bill harder" to pass than the 2014 law, enacted 16 months behind schedule. "I am committed 110 percent to getting both [food stamps and farm subsidies] reauthorized on time" in 2018, he said, but held open the possibility of splitting the topics into separate bills for House debate.
White House hires opponent of free school lunch
For those trying to read the political tea leaves, there's a connection between a new hire at the White House and congressional action on public nutrition programs. Kellyanne Conway, counselor to President Trump, hired as chief of staff Renee Hudson, who held the same job with Indiana Rep. Todd Rokita, said the Washington Post. An advocate of school choice, Rokita was sponsor of the 2016 child nutrition bill that would have slashed a program allowing free meals for all students at schools in poor neighborhoods.
House GOP chooses Foxx to chair Education Committee
Budget hawk Virginia Foxx of North Carolina will chair the House Education Committee in the session that begins in January, Republican leaders announced. Barring a resolution by lawmakers in the next few days, the committee will have to write a child-nutrition bill next year, repeating the work it did this year.