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Sat Jan 9
This Year, Resolve to be Healthy
This Year, Resolve to be Healthy
The National School Lunch Program is intended to provide healthy meals to our children. But are they?
Resolve to be Heard
~ Kelly Prill ~
The new year has arrived and with it, resolutions: Exercise. Lose weight. Save money. If your resolutions include getting your children to eat more healthfully, you may want to begin with their school lunches provided through the National School Lunch Program (NSLP). Intended to provide nutritional, balanced lunches at reduced cost, or free of charge, the safety of the meat served under the program has recently come into question.
The seeds for the NSLP were planted during the Depression Era when millions were out of work and unable to feed themselves or their children. The Federal government stepped in to help with school lunches. In 1932, the government granted loans to help defray the costs of “preparing and serving school lunches”[i] in several Missouri
During World War II, Federal aid declined: As people were employed in the defense industry, the importance of the WPA diminished. Further, farm products were diverted for the war effort: The amount of food available for school lunches decreased by 361 million pounds over a two year period.[v] While there were still hungry children, the number of people to serve them and the amount of food available for purchase had declined sharply.
To address this concern, in 1946 Harry Truman signed the National School Lunch Act into law. This act created the NSLP and made federal funding for school lunches permanent, not dependent upon the availability of farm surpluses. Upon its signing, the president declared, “In the long view, no nation is healthier than its children, or more prosperous than its farmers."[vi]
The NSLP provides “nutritionally balanced, low-cost or free lunches…each school day.”[vii] For each meal served to school children, the district receives a cash reimbursement as follows (2009):
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Free lunches: $2.68
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Reduced price lunches: $2.28
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Paid lunches: $0.25
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In addition to these reimbursements, the USDA provides agricultural commodities to schools participating in the NSLP. In 2008, over a hundred thousand districts across the nation, representing nearly thirty-one million children, were a part of the program.[viii] Chances are, your local school district is as well.
Each meal served under the NSLP must be balanced, with no more than thirty percent of its calories coming from fat (no more than 10% saturated). In addition, the meals must meet calorie, vitamin, protein, iron and other nutritional requirements. But are our children, as Truman had hoped, healthier thanks to the NSLP? According to many sources, no: “The food currently provided through the National School Lunch Program has not kept pace with what we know today to be truly healthy and nutritious food. Rather, the foods provided in the program under the guise of good nutrition—chili cheese dogs, pepperoni pizza, cheeseburgers, and pork chops—are there to prop up farm incomes and are part of the problem that has created a generation of overweight children.”[ix] Worse, the quality and safety of that food is suspect. The Agricultural Marketing Service, the branch of the USDA responsible for purchasing food for the school lunch program, buys its meat from the “lowest bidder,” not necessarily the source of the highest quality meat. [x] While the USDA claims that meat purchased for the NSLP is safe, indeed exceeding standards for meat destined for the supermarket, the organization doesn’t monitor the meat it purchases as closely as it should. According to a recent article in USA Today, fast food restaurants test their meat for pathogens more stringently and more frequently than does the government test the meat it purchases for the NSLP program. Meat that would have been rejected by Campbells and Jack in the Box regularly makes its way into school lunches. [xi] But that doesn’t get fast food restaurants off the hook: Meat served by McDonalds and Burger King is regularly treated with ammonia to kill E. coli and salmonella. Unfortunately, so is some of the meat destined for the school cafeteria.[xii] Which begs the question: In its quest to support commercial farmers, has the government lost sight of the wellbeing of our children?
No one can question the degree to which the NSLP helped…and continues to help school children. And the USDA continues to innovate: The Farm To School Initiative (1997) represents an effort by the government to bring together small farmers with their local school districts. But we owe it to our children to speak out about the quality of the meat in the National School Lunch Program.
This year, make another resolution: become more active in bringing healthier foods to our homes, our supermarkets and our children. Go to Food Democracy Now to learn more about this issue and to take action: http://act.credoaction.com/campaign/school_lunch_fdn/
Note:
MSNBC has a story on drug-resistant infections in our meat supply. To read it, follow this link:
For additional information about the National School Lunch Program, see
http://www.frac.org/html/federal_food_programs/programs/nslp.html
USAToday is running a series of articles about school lunch food safety. For a link, click here: http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/2009-12-08-school-lunch-standards_N.htm?loc=interstitialskip
[i] Gunderson, Gordon W. "National School Lunch Program." Home Page. Web. 09 Jan. 2010. http://www.fns.usda.gov/cnd/Lunch/AboutLunch/ProgramHistory_4.htm>.
[ii] "Great Depression Facts | Random Facts." Random Facts | Fun Trivia | Interesting Insight. RandomHistory.com. Web. 09 Jan. 2010. <http://facts.randomhistory.com/2009/04/12_great-depression.html>.
[iii] ibid
[iv] Gunderson, Gordon W. "History of the National School Lunch Program." Colorado Department of Education. Colorado Department of Education. Web. <http://www.cde.state.co.us/>.
[vi] Friese, Kurt M. "Time for Lunch: Health Reform our Kids Can Live With." Edible Communities - Local Food Magazines - Eat Local - Locavore - Edible Publications. Edible Communities, 14 Aug. 2009. Web. 09 Jan. 2010. http://www.ediblecommunities.com/ediblenation/.
[vii] "National School Lunch Program." Nutrition Assistance Programs. USDA, Aug. 2009. Web. < http://www.fns.usda.gov/cnd/lunch/AboutLunch/NSLPFactSheet.pdf>
[viii] ibid
[ix]"FATTENING UP OUR KIDS WITH SCHOOL LUNCHES." Chef Ann Cooper : The Renegade Lunch Lady - Changing the Way We Feed Our Children. Ed. Ann Cooper. 1 Oct. 2007. Web. 09 Jan. 2010. <http://www.chefann.com/blog/archives/872>.
[x] Eisler, Peter, Blake Morrison, and Anthony DeBarros. "Fast-food standards for meat top those for school lunches." USA Today 9 Dec. 2009. USA Today. 9 Dec. 2009. Web. <http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/2009-12-08-school-lunch-standards_N.htm>.
[xi] ibid
Peter, Blake Morrison, and Anthony DeBarros. "Fast-food standards for meat top those for school lunches." USA Today 9 Dec. 2009. USA Today. 9 Dec. 2009. Web. <http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/2009-12-08-school-lunch-standards_N.htm>.
[xii] Moss, Michael. "Safety of Beef Processing Method is Questioned." The New York Times 30 Dec. 2009. The New York Times. 30 Dec. 2009. Web. <http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/31/us/31meat.html?_r=1>.