school lunch
U.S. bill to stop ‘lunch shaming’ is narrower than vanguard New Mexico law
The bipartisan bill filed in the House and Senate would stop four "lunch shaming" activities in public schools but would not assure students would get a hot meal, says Bettina Elias Siegel, who writes The Lunch Tray blog. The congressional legislation was modeled on a New Mexico law that requires all children receive the standard school meal, even if their family owes money on a food account.
Seven big school districts say they won’t relax school lunch standards
Seven of the largest school districts in the nation say they won’t relax school lunch standards despite Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue’s offer of flexibility in school meals.
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.
New Mexico passes first ‘lunch shaming’ law
New Mexico has approved the nation's first law to ban “lunch shaming” students who can’t afford school lunches or whose parents fall behind on payments. The Hunger-Free Students’ Bill of Rights, signed by New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez, applies to all schools, public or private, that accept federal money for students' breakfast or lunch.
Conservative think tank would end crop subsidies, slash food stamps
The Heritage Foundation, credited as the source of many of President Trump's ideas on cutting discretionary spending, would eliminate the two major crop subsidy programs now in operation, end revenue insurance and abolish marketing orders for fresh produce if it had its way. The think tank's "Blueprint for Balance," a budget package for fiscal 2018, may answer the question of what the White House will propose in May as the full-bore successor to its "skinny budget" issued March 16.
Hands off the lunch-time ‘share table,’ say school officials in two states
The USDA encourages "share tables" as a way to reduce food waste in school meals. The idea is that children can return untouched food and beverages that become available to children who are still hungry, says Civil Eats, "But there has also been some surprising pushback lately."
Locally-grown food available daily to 30 percent of schoolchildren
If they serve locally-sourced food at all, school districts are likely to serve it every day, say five economists who produced the first USDA study of the prevalence of local food in school meals. They said 19 percent of school districts serve at least one locally-sourced item daily, and because the districts tend to have large enrollments, 30 percent of all students have the option of local food.
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.
Schools serve breakfast to more low-income children
The school breakfast program, an adjunct to the longer-established school lunch and school milk programs, is reaching a growing number of low-income children — 12.1 million daily during the 2015-16 school year — says a report from an anti-hunger group.
This West Virginia town built a model school-lunch program. The GOP wants to tear it down.
In 2010, celebrity chef Jamie Oliver aired a reality show, "Food Revolution," about Huntington, W.Va., which had been ranked by the Centers for Disease Control as the nation's most unhealthy metropolitan area. The city's schools were at the center of the story. In the latest story from The Food & Environment Reporting Network, published in partnership with The Huffington Post's Highline, reporter Jane Black tells the story of what happened in the Cabell County cafeterias after Oliver left town.
Miller, a possible USDA pick, would cut school lunch by ‘several billion dollars’
The government is giving away too many meals in the school-lunch program, according to Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller in a McClatchy story. An aspirant for U.S. agriculture secretary, Miller said he discussed with President-elect Donald Trump's team a plan to save "several billion dollars" by reforming the lunch program, which was created in 1946 "as a measure of national security, to safeguard the the health and well-being of the nation's children."
Study: school lunch improves kids’ diets
The USDA spends $13.7 billion annually on school food, about 10 percent of its budget. But do school food programs improve children’s diets? A new study says yes, especially for low-income students who benefit from free and reduced-price lunch.
Safeguard nutrition programs, antihunger groups ask Trump, Congress
The antihunger community asked President-elect Donald Trump and the Republican-controlled Congress to protect public nutrition programs, from food stamps and school lunch to commodity donation programs.
Chocolate and strawberry milk returning to some L.A. schools
The Los Angeles school board voted, 6-1, to loosen its ban, dating from 2011, on sugary, flavored milk in lunchrooms, in the hopes that more relaxed rules will reduce food waste and encourage consumption of plain milk, says the Los Angeles Times. "We wouldn't serve caramel apples to increase apple consumption," objected Brent Walmsley, founder of the advocacy group Sugarwatch.
In Brazil, fighting obesity with familiar foods
In two generations, Brazil, like many of its neighbors, has gotten fat, says The Nation, and experts such as Carlos Monteiro, a nutrition professor, sees it in a diet teeming with processed and consumer-ready food. "Instant noodles, soda and processed meats are edging out staples like beans and rice, cassava, and fresh produce," writes Bridget Huber in "Slow Food Nation," produced in partnership with FERN.
Sponsor of school food bill fails at gubernatorial bid, tries again for House
Third-term Rep. Todd Rokita, sponsor of the Republican-backed school lunch bill in the House, abandoned his re-election campaign two weeks ago to vie for the suddenly available GOP nomination in Indiana. Party leaders chose Lt. Gov. Eric Holcomb instead, so Rokita will try to get back on the November ballot, said Morning Consult.
GOP: It’s ‘a mistake’ for USDA to run food-stamp program
The Agriculture Department has run the $74-billion-a-year food stamp program since it was created half a century ago — "a mistake," according to the platform approved by delegates at the Republican National Convention. The campaign document says Republicans "will ... separate the administration of [food stamps] from the Department of Agriculture."
Summer food program plateaus at 3.2 million children
Fewer than one of six eligible children takes part in the summer food program, a participation rate that plateaued in 2015 after three years of steady growth, says the Food Research and Action Center in a report released today. The anti-hunger group said Congress should expand the program as part of the pending update of child-nutrition programs costing $23 billion a year, headlined by school lunch.