Biden administration toughens school nutrition standards

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: Reuters

April 24, 2024 12:13 PM EDT Updated 2 hours ago


April 24 (Reuters) - The Biden administration on Wednesday announced new rules limiting the sugar and sodium content of meals served to millions of children at U.S. public schools.

The standards unveiled by the U.S. Department of Agriculture are part of President Joe Biden's broader effort to combat diet-related disease such as childhood obesity. "We all share the goal of helping children reach their full potential," Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said in announcing the new standards.

The plan will, for the first time, require schools to limit added sugars in meals nationwide by 2027, as well as slightly reduce sodium content, according to the USDA. It also seeks to make it easier for schools to offer protein-rich and vegetarian options and encourage districts to buy locally grown or raised foods.

Starting in 2025, the standards will also impose limits on the percentage of food grown or raised outside the United States, the USDA said – a move aimed at supporting U.S. farmers. "The new standards build on the great progress that school meals have made already and address remaining challenges," said USDA Food and Nutrition Service Administrator Cindy Long.

Read more: https://www.reuters.com/world/us/biden-administration-toughens-school-nutrition-standards-2024-04-24/

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Link to USDA PRESS RELEASE - Biden-Harris Administration Announces New School Meal Standards to Strengthen Child Nutrition

[BaronChocula]

1. Here we go again

I hope it takes this time. The obesity industry is one tough hombre. Here's a trailer from a 2014 documentary on this topic which features two-time (and current) Agriculture Sec'y Tom Vilsack.

[progressoid]

5. Yeah, Vilsack...

He's been, shall we say, a disappointment.

[BaronChocula]

15. I'm not familiar with his track record

What did (or didn't) he do.

[progressoid]

16. He talks a good game but doesn't seem to deliver.

Particularly regarding the expanding control of corporate ag interests. He says wants to help the small and mid sized farmers but his cozy relationship with big ag tells another story.

https://www.commondreams.org/views/2020/12/22/tom-vilsacks-cozy-relationship-big-ag-makes-him-non-starter-usda

https://thecounter.org/usda-black-farmers-discrimination-tom-vilsack-reparations-civil-rights/

[BaronChocula]

17. Lipstick on a Pigford

I had no idea about either of these issues though I'm not really surprised. As far as discrepancies in treatment of farmers, it's a very close relative of redlining in the housing/lending industry.

Thanks for the info.

[questionseverything]

2. I know some low income kids are overweight but

I think the majority of them are skin and bones and need and deserve the calories and the sugar ….. I say this as someone that has lived in a poor neighborhood for forty plus years.

[BumRushDaShow]

3. "I know some low income kids are overweight but"

One thing that I think they refuse to address is an interesting phenomena that is probably helping to trigger the obesity.

I.e., many of these children may be born premature, and with "low birth weight". So the doctors tell the mothers to pack on the calories to get them to some (IMHO random mess) of a "weight norm" for their "infant age", where they whip out a ridiculous chart to show where they "should be".

HOWEVER, as the research has progressed over the decades, they have discovered that certain things can "trigger" changes in how the body responds to hunger and food and metabolism, and this has often been found to happen at that toddler age, where it pretty much "sets them" for life.

So "fattening up" the low birth weight/underweight infant/toddler may ultimately result in an obese child.

[questionseverything]

7. I'm taking about families whose food stamps are gone before the month is over

The kids go to school early for free breakfast, get free lunch and stay after for after school snack because that’s the only food they are getting that last week before new food stamps come out.

The free meals are tiny but definitely better than nothing.

With the price of groceries now I am hearing neighbors say the stamps last more like two weeks than three.

[BumRushDaShow]

10. Well that is a whole other issue

I was only zeroing in on the "obesity" part and when that might be starting (i.e., way before "school age" ).

[questionseverything]

11. I think the obesity happens different ways

When a family knows fs are only going to last part of the month they start looking early at food banks to supplement their food, food banks give away lots of cheap noodle products and less nutrient foods.

One huge problem is city kids in general don’t want veggies

[BumRushDaShow]

12. Definitely

and it's not just "city kids" and "vegetables" thing. It's a universal thing.

I think what ends up obviously happening with the pantries is that they tend to look for "non-perishables", and that often means dried pastas and rice. But what more and more orgs are doing is partnering so they can include some fresh produce in with those pantry staples. But then there is that issue of having to do more meal prep work with fresh produce and if you are a shift-worker, that may mean having to prep and freeze/refrigerate meals for heating up at the "traditional" meal times.

[questionseverything]

13. I do think it's more city kids because there are very few gardens in town

If a child has a garden, helps mom pick and prepare, there’s a much better chance they will enjoy veggies, that’s harder in the city

I plant veggies around my yard edges and in buckets, I can’t explain how exciting it is when a little city kids runs up to tell me, “there’s tomatoes 🍅 on your weeds “

😉👋

[BumRushDaShow]

14. I was born and raised a "city kid" here in Philly

and still live here. You will be surprised that it depends on the city.

There has always been a strong "horticultural" focus here where you'll have hundreds of blocks of 10ft wide row homes with little patches of "lawn" out front that have been filled with all kinds of plants and flowers and yes even veggies. In fact many of those communities set up "communal" plots (community gardens) where they will plant in vacant lots set aside for that purpose (some of those lots having been around for decades).

The PA Horticultural Society has been a sponsor for many of these - https://phsonline.org/for-gardeners/gardeners-blog/ngt-50th-garden-preserved





And there are many others (often sponsored by the colleges/universities and other orgs) - https://www.phillyhomegirls.com/blog/where-to-garden-in-philly

This is the most well-known one here (and probably one of the oldest) having been set up along the railroad tracks back in 1984 (Glenwood Green Acres) - https://glenwoodgreenacres.wixsite.com/home/giving-back-to-philly





I have a pile of basil seedlings (4 different types) in a domed propagator tray on a seedling heat mat that will hopefully be ready to go out in my vegtrug around Memorial Day! I grew up with a gardening mom and me and my sisters were just texting today about what plants we were looking to "shovel prune", move, and/or buy.

[EarnestPutz]

4. Wasn't it the Bush administration that once classified jello as a vegetable?

[BumRushDaShow]

8. Raygun had deemed "ketchup" as a "vegetable"

UPI Archives
Sept. 22, 1985
Budget director nominee approved school lunch ketchup plan


By ELAINE S. POVICH

WASHINGTON -- President Reagan's nominee for budget director approved a 1981 administration cost-cutting plan to count ketchup as a vegetable in school lunches, documents obtained by United Press International show.

James Miller, currently head of the Federal Trade Commission, was chief of the regulation department at the Office of Management and Budget in 1981.

The proposed school lunch rules, which were withdrawn amid strong opposition, would have allowed the nutritional value of condiments such as pickle relish and ketchup to be counted in fulfilling requirements of a government-subsidized school lunch.

The Food and Nutrition Service of the Agriculture Department wrote the proposed rule. But United Press International has learned that Miller, in his job as OMB's Administrator for Information and Regulatory Affairs, gave his personal approval to the proposed school lunch regulations.

(snip)

https://www.upi.com/Archives/1985/09/22/Budget-director-nominee-approved-school-lunch-ketchup-plan/8206496209600/

[BonnieJW]

9. No,

Reagan said Ketchup is a vegetable

[ffr]

6. Good news for healthier children, our future, and bad news for unhealthy low-information repug wishes

They want a dumbed down sickly population that's easily oppressed and controlled. Maybe someday we can adopt the Europeans standards for food quality and do away with this pesticide laden GMO crap!

[pfitz59]

18. Simple frigging standards

No sugar. Low sodium. Low fat. High protein and fiber. Fresh is best. Frozen next. Canned usually has too much sodium.