The Congressional Record is a unique source of public documentation. It started in 1873, documenting nearly all the major and minor policies being discussed and debated.
“INTRODUCTION OF THE RIGHT TO KNOW SCHOOL NUTRITION ACT” mentioning the U.S. Dept of Agriculture was published in the Extensions of Remarks section on pages E1836-E1837 on Sept. 17, 2003.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
INTRODUCTION OF THE RIGHT TO KNOW SCHOOL NUTRITION ACT
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HON. BARBARA LEE
of california
in the house of representatives
Wednesday, September 17, 2003
Ms. LEE. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to talk about an issue that has the potential to affect the lives of 27 million of our children across the nation, who are participants in the National School Lunch Program or the National School Breakfast Program.
The issue is the inclusion of irradiated food in federally-funded programs that are designed to help our disadvantaged children. Last year's Farm Bill opened the door for school districts to purchase irradiated food for use in our school feeding programs.
There are many questions that remain about the scientific validity of serving irradiated products to our growing kids, particularly in regards to nutritious content and the long term-effects of regular consumption of irradiated food.
In anticipation of issuing regulations on serving irradiated food, the U.S. Department of Agriculture opened a comment period for the public to express its opinion on irradiated food. An overwhelming number of the comments received by USDA opposed serving irradiated food in the national school lunch program, over 90% in fact.
Four school boards in California have already moved to ban irradiated food products in their schools, including the city of Berkeley in my district, Point Arena, Ukiah, and Los Angeles Unified. And based on a recent survey conducted by the public interest group Public Citizen, many more school districts and states have indicated that they will not purchase or serve irradiated food during this school year.
But for those school districts and states that may decide to serve irradiated food, under current regulations, there is no requirement for irradiated food to be clearly labeled at lunch areas where it is served. In addition, parents and children who rely on our school nutrition programs are not given the option to refuse irradiated products, and they will have no choice but to eat whatever type of food is served that day.
I am seeking to correct this current deficiency in law by introducing the Right to Know School Nutrition Act. My bill would require the USDA to ensure that: Balanced information on irradiation is given to parents and children before such products are served; that a standard option of non-irradiated food products be served at every meal; that irradiated food be properly labeled and appropriate signage be displayed in the lunch room; and finally, that irradiated and non-irradiated food products are not commingled.
The Right to Know School Nutrition Act represents a simple commonsense solution that empowers individual parents and children to decide for themselves what they will eat. I encourage my colleagues to join me in support of this bill in order to protect our children from the potential dangers of irradiated food products and to preserve consumer choice.
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