Michelle’s meals turn off the kids

More than a million kids confronted by healthier school lunches are turning up their noses, leaving the cafeteria and heading out to get a burger instead.

The difficulty in getting students to eat lower-fat, lower-sodium meals is at the center of a food fight between House Republicans and first lady Michelle Obama that erupted this week.

The Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010, supported by President Obama, requires lunch programs that receive federal dollars to provide healthier meals. The new standards began to go into effect in 2012.

Childhood obesity has spiraled in recent decades, and the first lady has made the fight against it a signature issue. Democrats say stemming the epidemic will cut healthcare costs and keep the armed forces functioning.

But Agriculture Department statistics show the number of school children in the National School Lunch Program dropped from 31.8 million in 2011 to 30.7 million in 2013.

School boards are asking Congress to allow schools to opt out. Some schools are raiding their teaching budgets to cover the costs of mounds of wasted fruits and vegetables, Lucy Gettman of the National School Boards Association said.

“Every school is probably impacted a little bit differently ... there isn’t comprehensive data available,” she said. She noted that one school district in Alaska reported having to transfer $135,000 from its education budget to meet the new requirements — and that the incident was far from unique.

Diane Pratt-Heavner of the School Nutrition Association, which represents nonprofit lunch providers in the National School Lunch program, said data show 1,445 schools have dropped out of the program since the standards went into effect as costs mount.

Lawmakers acted this week. A House spending bill approved by a subcommittee on Tuesday would force the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to give a temporary waiver to school lunch programs that can show they were operating at a net loss for the last six months. That provision is supported by the National School Boards Association, as well as the School Nutrition Association. They also support other efforts, including a bill by Rep. Kristi Noem (R-S.D.) to stop imposition of more stringent standards coming down the pike.

Via: The Hill

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