When it comes to the National School Lunch Program (NSLP), the partisan brouhaha has been about the menu. Later this year, however, Congress will reauthorize the Healthy and Hunger Free Kids Act of 2010, mostly by agreeing to pick up the check. The outline of just such an ending became
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Letter from the Editor: Fissures in the School Cafeteria
The School Nutrition Association (SNA) is the organization that oversees state and local school lunch programs. It has about 50,000 members from every school district in the country. New federal nutritional policies for school lunch programs are opening deep fissures in this once-unified SNA, which gathers this week for its
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Ridding Schools of Fast Food, Junk Food, and Soda Pushers
With the passage of the Healthy, Hungry-Free Kids Act of 2010, in addition to improving school meals, Congress required the U.S. Department of Agriculture to update nearly nonexistent nutrition standards on so-called competitive foods. These are foods sold outside the school meal program, including fast food items sold alongside the
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Letter From The Editor: Secretary Vilsack to the Rescue
In the long history of the National School Lunch Program (NSLP), there have been plenty of issues to protest. I think it was those “fish sticks” we got in Catholic school that nearly extinguished my taste for seafood until I went through a recovery program on the Seattle waterfront. Not
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House Republicans Seek to Reverse Calorie Limits for School Lunches
Reps. Steve King (R-IA) and Tim Huelskamp (R-KS) introduced a bill last week that would eliminate new limits on the number of calories in the school lunches served to 32 million American school children each day. The bill, dubbed the No Hungry Kids Act, is in direct response to new
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USDA Makes Grants Available for Farm to School Programs
Farm to school food programs are set to receive a boost this October in the form of $3.5 million in federal grant money.
Deputy Secretary of Agriculture Kathleen Merrigan announced Tuesday that the USDA’s Food and Nutrition Service is now accepting applications for a series of grants – each one
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Senate Potato Block Wants No School Lunch Limits
Anyone who thought Congress was out of it once it adopted the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act more than a year ago probably does not understand the money and complexity involved in new nutritional standards for school lunches.
USDA’s new nutritional standards for the National School Lunch Program are getting their
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School Meal Programs Shaping Up Nationwide
Thousands more children will have access to healthier meals this year, thanks to recent government reforms that encourage schools to provide more nutritious offerings.
The Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act, passed in December of last year, requires the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to update school nutrition requirements for the first
Students Get Ready for Healthy Kids Cook-Off
While school is out for most kids around America, three groups of students are getting tested for their culinary skills.
Last September, First Lady Michelle Obama and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) launched the “Healthy Kids Competition” which promotes healthy eating among children. The competition challenges school nutrition
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USDA Rule Encourages Local Food for School Meals
A new federal rule will give preference in contract bidding for school meals to local farm products, the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced this week.
The final rule, published in the Federal Register, is intended to break down barriers that have so far prevented or discouraged schools from using
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