Tag Archives: competitive foods

Does the current school food fight benefit hungry kids and hard-working nutrition professionals?

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To all my friends and colleagues in the school nutrition world: AASA, AFHK, AHG, AND, CSPI, CIA, SNA, USDA, agriculture, industry and food advocates of all flavors … 

Those who know me professionally know that I have devoted my life to excellence in child nutrition programs. You know how strongly I believe that every child in American deserves to be well nourished and ready to succeed.

Those who know me personally will understand that my family situation (caring for my father in hospice at his home in California) prevents me from jumping into the current whirlwind of school lunch politics. I do not have the time or energy to sort through the conflicting claims and feeding frenzy of media messages to choose a particular side in this food fight. From what I have read, there are valid points on all sides. School meals are a complicated, nuanced issue, one that does not benefit from polarizing tweets and political rhetoric.

I am taking the “side” that I know best – one that often gets lost as the food fight heats up. I am supporting those who eat and cook school meals that rock. Millions of American children depend on school meals for the nourishment they need to succeed in academics, arts and athletics. Very often the quality of school breakfast, lunch, supper and snack far exceeds what they are fed at home or choose for themselves out in the world.

School Lunch, Bethel School District, Eugene, OR

School Lunch, Bethel School District, Eugene, Oregon

Thousands of dedicated, hardworking school nutrition professionals do their best every day to serve the healthiest meals possible –with reams of regulations, serious financial constraints, and complaints from every corner. I am not naïve; I know that nutrition nirvana in not found in every school. I also know that school nutrition programs do not serve “unlimited pizza and french fries every day,” kill kids with junk food, or want to roll back ten years of delicious improvements in school meals. Most are trying to develop farm to school contracts, plant school gardens and write grants for new kitchen equipment, while also helping kids to make healthier choices at school and home.

Farmer Delivers Vegetables to Moharimet School, Oyster River District, Durham, New Hampshire

Farmer Delivers Vegetables to Moharimet School, Oyster River District, Durham, New Hampshire

If I could wave a magic wand, I would ask everyone who cares about kids’ nutrition to take a deep breath, step back and think about how we can truly support school meals that rock. How can we find the middle ground without getting involved in a raucous election year debate that is more about being right than feeding hungry kids? How can we learn from districts that make smart nutrition work – recognizing vast differences among states and communities – to help those that are struggling? One nutrition solution does not fit all, but solutions in one district can help to inspire excellence in others.

We need many hands – from field to fork – to continue the positive changes in school nutrition programs. Legislators, farmers, ranchers, manufacturers, dietitians, chefs, superintendents, school nutrition professionals, parents and students need to talk with each other more –and yell about each other less. If everyone agrees that some flexibility in the meal standards probably makes sense, then let’s sit down and figure how to make that happen.

I doubt anyone inside the beltway is going to listen to my advice. Positions are now entrenched and politics are driving decisions more than science. For everyone else, if you want to get involved in school nutrition, here are my suggestions.

  • Go eat a meal in your local school to experience the daily reality of feeding hundreds of hungry kids in minutes rather than hours.
  • Spend some time in a school kitchen listening to what works under current guidelines and where flexibility would be helpful.
  • Join your local school wellness committee, anti-hunger coalition or local food group to create strategies that work.

What am I going to do? Continue my virtual tour inviting Katie Couric – and anyone else who cares – to do school lunch in cafeterias around the country. Every day I discover a new school serving amazing choices, a new program planting actual seeds of healthy food or a new hero teaching children to cook delicious nutrition.

Eat. Play. Learn. S is for Smart Snacks in Schools

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To celebrate the publication of Proceedings of the Learning Connection Summit: Nutrition, Physical Activity, and Student Achievement, I’m offering a short daily post during February on the ABCs of the health and academics.

S is for SMART SNACKS in Schools

Starting in fall 2014, the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) interim rule on competitive foods, SMART SNACKS in Schools, goes into effect. In my opinion, there’s lots of good news in the rule, starting with more fruits, veggies, low-fat dairy foods, whole grains, and lean proteins. Based on experience with existing standards, like the 6,640+ HealthierUS School Challenge (HUSSC) winners and Alliance for a Healthier Generation (AHG) districts, the proposed rule is realistic and can benefit kids’ health.

We also need a reality check about the rule does and does not do. While SMART SNACKS in Schools represents another significant step toward healthy school nutrition environments, it does not cover foods brought from home, foods for classroom parties or any foods sold after regular school hours (athletic events, after-school fundraisers, etc.). Compliance and monitoring will be an issue outside of cafeterias. Fortunately, the AASA (American Association of School Superintendents) has a Competitive Foods Policy Initiative to build necessary support for strong policies.

After the 2012 Nutrition Standards for School Lunch went into effect, Jane Brody wrote “There’s Homework to Do on School Lunches” in the New York Times. Her basic premise was that the federal regulations and standards are just the beginning – and that homes and schools also have work at improving how children eat. I believe the same is true for this issue.

To build strong bodies and smart brains, children also need SMART SNACKS at home, SMART SNACKS brought from home to school, and SMART SNACKS served in concession stands at sporting events. A healthy school environment will take more than new regulations – it will require a culture of wellness – designed to support the connection between nutrition and academic success.

USDA Smart Snacks in Schools

USDA Smart Snacks in Schools

Smart Snacks for Schools: We All Have Homework to Do for Kids’ Health

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On February 1, 2013, the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced the long-anticipated proposed rule on competitive foods in schools, now known as Smart Snacks in Schools. Published in the Federal Register on February 8th, the rule is now open for a mandatory 60-day public comment period, which closes on April 9, 2013. The overall reaction has been positive, although many folks are probably still trying to digest the details of the 160-page document.

Changes in allowed snacks according to USDA

Changes in allowed snacks according to USDA

If your schedule does not permit a long read, several good summaries are available online. There is a very readable Q-and-A format in USDA Summary, excellent materials from a webinar by USDA and Food Research Action Center (FRAC), and the School Nutrition Association page with links and member-only comment section. The more you read, the more you’ll know. What follows is my personal, big picture reaction to the proposal and what it will really mean in local schools.

THE GOOD NEWS

There’s lots of good news in the proposed rule, starting with more fruits, veggies, low-fat dairy foods, whole grains, and lean proteins. Anyone who cares about kids’ health knows that there is still plenty of room for improvement in the options that kids have outside of school meals covered by USDA’s 2012 Nutrition Standards. Other positive aspects of Smart Snacks in Schools:

THE REALITY CHECK

While Smart Snacks in Schools represents another significant step toward creating healthy school nutrition environments, it’s also important to note what it does not do. It does not cover foods brought from home, foods for classroom parties or any foods sold after regular school hours (athletic events, after-school fundraisers, etc.).

  • In fact, most of the effect from this rule will be seen in cafeteria a la carte lines, as well as on some vending and fundraisers held during school hours.
  • Compliance and monitoring will an issue outside of cafeterias; school nutrition programs know how to do the required record keeping, but it is not clear who can – or even wants to – be effective as “food police” in the wider school campus.
Students enjoy smart snacks in Ellensburg, Washington, thanks to Fuel Up To Play 60 Program

Students enjoy smart snacks in Ellensburg, Washington, school cafeteria – with support from Fuel Up To Play 60 Program

OUR HOMEWORK ASSIGNMENTS

Last October, after the 2012 Nutrition Standards for School Lunch went into effect, Jane Brody wrote “There’s Homework to Do on School Lunches” in the New York Times. Her basic premise was that the federal regulations and standards are just the beginning – and that homes and schools also have work at improving how children eat. I believe the same is true for this issue.

To build strong bodies and smart brains, children also need smart snacks at home, smart snacks brought from home to school, and smart snacks served in concession stands at sporting events. A healthy school nutrition environment will take more than new regulations – it will require a culture of wellness. To create that culture will require us all to do some additional homework: Making comments on the proposed rule at eRulemaking Portal (on or before April 9, 2013) is a good first step. (Select Food and Nutrition Services from the agency drop-down menu and, in the docket ID column of the search results, select FNS-2011-0019.)

If we care about smart snacks at school, here’s what I believe we all need to do:

  • Support  a culture of wellness in your local district, for example, by serving a School Health Advisory Council (SHAC) or helping with a HUSSC application.
  • Use smart strategies to inspire, motivate and educate everyone in schools about smart snacks for reasons they care about, because not everyone is focused on childhood obesity:
    • Make smart snacks about fun and great taste for kids.
    • Make smart snacks about fitness and sports success for coaches, athletes and boosters clubs.
      • Make smart snacks about learning and behavior for classroom teachers and administrators.
      • Make smart snacks about successful fundraisers that make money for clubs and organizations.
      • Make smart snacks the cool thing to do at school rather than something that the government is making us do!!

    • Fruit Snack sold at West High Track Meet concessions in Billings, Montana

      Fruit Snack sold at West High Track Meet concessions in Billings, Montana