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.
“HEALTHY SCHOOL LUNCHES” mentioning the U.S. Dept of Agriculture was published in the Senate section on pages S7825 on Nov. 18, 2011.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
HEALTHY SCHOOL LUNCHES
Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, over the years, I have visited dozens of schools in Illinois, and I have learned more about the childhood obesity problem in this country by stepping into the lunch room than I have just about anywhere else. Particularly in disadvantaged neighborhoods, school staff tell me that while students might pick up a piece of fruit or a serving of vegetables, the first food choice for the majority of students is a large soda and a bag of flaming hot cheetos. But for the young people we are asking to perform at ever increasing academic levels, we should be able to provide better options for their meals.
Last year, Congress took a big step including provisions to improve school lunches in the reauthorization of the Child Nutrition Act. The U.S. Department of Agriculture deserves credit for taking the first significant steps in 15 years to make school lunches healthier. These proposed changes would provide children with a balanced diet that includes more green leafy vegetables, limiting starchy vegetables--like french fries--to two servings a week, limiting sodium, and boosting whole grains. USDA also proposed that tomato paste could only be counted as a vegetable if a half cup of tomato paste is used. Today, only two tablespoons of tomato paste is considered a serving of a vegetable which means schools can serve pizza to fulfill a vegetable requirement and receive Federal subsidies for doing so.
I was dismayed to learn that the conferees for the Fiscal Year 2012 Agriculture Appropriations legislation have decided to slow or even stop some of the new proposed nutrition standards for school meals. The USDA's proposal is science-based and informed by 2009 recommendations from the Institute of Medicine to reduce childhood obesity and future health care costs. Rather than uphold these sound recommendations to promote children's nutrition, the conferees report will roll back these standards and continue the status quo.
But maintaining the status quo comes at a heavy cost. Federal subsidies will support a school lunch menu that is heavy on french fries and pizza, ignoring nutrition science and common sense while contributing to our country's childhood obesity epidemic. These policy riders will maintain the current standards.
Across the country school districts are showing that with creativity and determination it is possible to improve school meals on a limited budget. Two years ago Chicago Public Schools made a commitment to try to wean kids off the junk food they have grown accustomed to and has moved to improve nutrition standards in school lunches and breakfasts. Flaming hot cheetos are still popular but no longer ubiquitous. The school district has exceeded the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Healthier U.S. School Challenge Gold Standards and is offering more fruits and vegetables, and serving more whole grains. CPS now has one of the healthiest nutrition standards in the Nation. There is certainly more work to be done, but the school district has shown how to implement healthier meals on a limited budget and should be hailed as a national leader for affordably delivering healthy food to children.
I am deeply disappointed that the conferees have decided to resist implementing better nutrition standards in our schools, rather than fighting to reduce childhood obesity among our children. I am disappointed that the voice of powerful interest groups drowned out basic nutritional science and collaborating on strategies to improve children's options at lunch time.
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