[quote]
WASHINGTON (AP) - Congress is fighting to keep pizza and french fries on school lunch lines, picking apart an Obama administration proposal to make school lunches healthier.
A spending bill released late Monday would unravel school lunch standards proposed by the Agriculture Department earlier this year, forcing USDA to pull back an attempt to limit potatoes on the lunch line, delaying limits on sodium and delaying a requirement to boost whole grains.
The spending bill also would allow tomato paste on pizzas to be counted as a vegetable, as it is now. The department's proposed guidelines would have attempted to prevent that.
The changes had been requested by food companies that produce frozen pizzas, the salt industry and potato growers. Some conservatives in Congress have called the push for healthier foods an overreach, saying the government shouldn't be telling children what to eat.
In a bill summary released Monday, Republicans on the House Appropriations Committee said the changes would "prevent overly burdensome and costly regulations and ... provide greater flexibility for local school districts to improve the nutritional quality of meals."
House Republicans had urged USDA to completely rewrite the standards in their version of the bill passed in June. The Senate last month voted to block the potato limits in their version. Neither version included the language on tomato paste, sodium or whole grains, which was added by House-Senate negotiators on the bill.
School districts had also objected to some of the requirements, saying they go too far. Schools have long taken broad instructions from the government on what they can serve in federally subsidized meals that are served free or at reduced price to low-income children. But some schools have balked at government attempts to tell them exactly what foods they can't serve.
The school lunch proposal was based on 2009 recommendations by the Institute of Medicine, the health arm of the National Academy of Sciences. When the guidelines were proposed in January, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said the effort was necessary to stem the tide of childhood obesity and reduce future health care costs.
Nutrition advocate Margo Wootan of the Center for Science in the Public Interest said the changes proposed by Congress will prevent schools from serving a wider array of vegetables. Children already get enough pizza and potatoes, she says. It would also slow efforts to make pizzas - a longtime standby on school lunch lines - healthier, with whole grain crusts and lower levels of sodium.
"They are making sure that two of the biggest problems in the school lunch program, pizza and french fries, are untouched," she said.
A group of retired generals advocating for healthier school lunches also criticized the spending bill. Mission: Readiness has called poor nutrition in school lunches a national security issue because obesity is the leading medical disqualifier for military service.
"We are outraged that Congress is seriously considering language that would effectively categorize pizza as a vegetable in the school lunch program," Amy Dawson Taggart, the director of the group, said in a letter to members of Congress before the final plan was released. "It doesn't take an advanced degree in nutrition to call this a national disgrace."
The school lunch provisions are part of a final House-Senate compromise on a $182 billion measure would fund the day-to-day operations of the departments of Agriculture, Commerce, Justice, Transportation and Housing and Urban Development. Both the House and the Senate are expected to vote on the bill this week and send it to President Barack Obama.[/quote]
[url]http://www.wjla.com/articles/2011/11/congress-pushes-back-on-healthier-school-lunches-69171.html[/url]
Americans are lucky they get served pizza and french fries at school.
[QUOTE=AceOfDivine;33286988]Americans are lucky they get served pizza and french fries at school.[/QUOTE]I wouldn't call some non-nutritional gut bomb something lucky to have.
Thing is, it's plastic-tasting rubberized crap food to begin with.
I'd rather have decent, home cooked meals (even if it means finding proper cooks) than this:
[t]http://phude-nyc.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/kac_100113_phude_bens_square_1_600.jpg[/t]
[QUOTE=AceOfDivine;33286988]Americans are lucky they get served pizza and french fries at school.[/QUOTE]
It's not really pizza and french fries. It's more like "pizza" and "french fries"
As an american who ate school food, it needs to be healthier. Most of it was pure grease at best.
I don't eat school food at all (UK) because it's always some mayonnaise-covered mildly warm soggy sandwich shit, and people always touch the food then put it down.
Here is what we are having for lunch right now in my high school.
A choice of either French Toast with sausage patty or cheese steak grinder. Served with homefries and a small Dixie cup of mixed fruit, which is usually just peaches.
[QUOTE=AceOfDivine;33286988]Americans are lucky they get served pizza and french fries at school.[/QUOTE]
We used to have that for a snack,back in elementary
Literally this is what they served us
We just make our own lunches in the morning and eat them at school. I don't see why american kids can't. Junk food is more expensive than four slices of bread anyway.
[QUOTE=Miskav;33287169]We just make our own lunches in the morning and eat them at school. I don't see why american kids can't. Junk food is more expensive than four slices of bread anyway.[/QUOTE]
School meals are typically 1.50-2.50, so not to bad price wise.
[QUOTE=rundevil;33287199]School meals are typically 1.50-2.50, so not to bad price wise.[/QUOTE]
It's 3 dollars at my school.
[QUOTE=Bryanrocks0;33287017]It's not really pizza and french fries. It's more like "pizza" and "french fries"[/QUOTE]
and "food"
[QUOTE=rundevil;33287199]School meals are typically 1.50-2.50, so not to bad price wise.[/QUOTE]
2.50 every day. You could eat lunch for two weeks from a 2$ loaf of bread. Yes that seems totally sane.
[QUOTE=Miskav;33287282]2.50 every day. You could eat lunch for two weeks from a 2$ loaf of bread. Yes that seems totally sane.[/QUOTE]
Factor in toppings to that but; meals typically included: Hot main Dish, 2 sides, a drink and a desert of some type. So we got more than just a sandwich.
We just go to the general store close by, they sell 5 croissants for 1 euro.
(albert heijn.)
[QUOTE=rundevil;33287323]Factor in toppings to that but; meals typically included: Hot main Dish, 2 sides, a drink and a desert of some type. So we got more than just a sandwich.[/QUOTE]
Why would you eat a hot meal for lunch, that's way too fattening.
[QUOTE=Miskav;33287282]2.50 every day. You could eat lunch for two weeks from a 2$ loaf of bread. Yes that seems totally sane.[/QUOTE]You can live two weeks on one loaf of bread? With no toppings? Holy shit, are you anorexic by any chance?
I always liked school food. It was simply good and varied. And free.
Not once was there pizza, hamburgers or other shit like that in our schools.
[QUOTE=rundevil;33287323]Factor in toppings to that but; meals typically included: Hot main Dish, 2 sides, a drink and a dessert of some type. So we got more than just a sandwich.[/QUOTE]
[IMG]http://mrsmcase.files.wordpress.com/2009/11/school-lunch.jpg[/IMG]
This is what my school lunch would typically look like, except the orange is a small cup of applesauce and the hunk of bread is a single slice, and even then if you happen to get that much spaghetti and pasta, you're lucky.
Frankly, the food is disgusting, and if it didn't have a familiar name, half the time, you wouldn't think that it's edible.
Why is that orange yellow? I thought it was lemon at first.
I remember one time that we had pizza in second grade was that there were faintly purple and bluish blotches inside the pizza.
Needless to say I packed after that.
[QUOTE=AceOfDivine;33287418]Why is that orange yellow? I thought it was lemon at first.[/QUOTE]
All "Oranges" in our schools are yellow.
We call them Yellows.
I never ate school meals, and I'm so glad of that
When you get to a private school of any kind, whether it's a community college (which is what I'm attending) or anything else that is considered private, you'll appreciate the fact that the mess halls there practically operate on their own accord.
Granted, there's plenty of junk food because it isn't really constrained by any major policies, but a huge fraction of the food is made from scratch and not pre-frozen shit loaded with chemicals. I always enjoy a hot cup of chili or soup with a nice and cold bottle of milk when I need to get my munch on.
I'm guessing I'm the only one that actually liked my school's food.
[QUOTE=Miskav;33287169]We just make our own lunches in the morning and eat them at school. I don't see why american kids can't. Junk food is more expensive than four slices of bread anyway.[/QUOTE]
I was talking to someone in an American highschool who isn't allowed to bring his own lunch OR leave to get lunch, as both of those were deemed to be threats to the school['s profits]
Bracketed part added by me
[QUOTE=Zeke129;33287613]I was talking to someone in an American highschool who isn't allowed to bring his own lunch OR leave to get lunch, as both of those were deemed to be threats to the school['s profits]
Bracketed part added by me[/QUOTE]
I was about to rage so fucking hard until I saw you put the profits part in.
Well its proven kids who eat healthier concentrate better and are more productive in the classroom, in some cases I believe its even cheaper to serve than junk food. I don't know why schools don't set up plans to buy and trade from local producers of healthier options or from local farms etc - it would bring back that spirit of local trade and would increase fairer produce I would imagine though probably a bit more complicated than that though. I do know a lot of schools have a horrible budget and that buying this government standard food is a way of saving cash.
Sorry, you need to Log In to post a reply to this thread.
