On March 6, the Senate Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry Committee held a hearing, “Child Nutrition and the School Setting.” The hearing focused on the federal role in improving children’s diets, particularly in the context of the upcoming reauthorization of the farm bill.
“In recent years, thanks to the efforts of school nutrition personnel, the nutritional quality of federally-reimbursed meals has also improved,” Chair Tom Harkin (D-IA) said in his opening remarks. “Even as the quality of federally-reimbursed meals has improved, foods of little nutritional value candy, chips, and sweetened beverages have become increasingly available and consumed in most schools, where kids spend a significant portion of their day. Some schools and states have taken action to address these challenges, but many more have not. And the federal government has done little far too little in my opinion to set basic nutrition standards for foods that are sold in our schools. Without such guidelines, millions of American children fail to receive optimal nutrition at school, and the $10 billion investment in school meal reimbursements provided every year by American taxpayers is undermined.”
Ranking Member Saxby Chambliss (R-GA) stated, “Good nutrition is not only important for good health, but also for proper cognitive development in our children. Our school nutrition programs are a key component in our efforts to provide healthy, nutritious meals to our nation’s school children…Nutrition programs have been and continue to be an important part of the farm bill. Although the Committee will be facing budgetary pressures from all interested parties when writing the farm bill, I look forward to working together in a bipartisan way to address the nutritional issues, which are critical to the well being of so many of our nation’s children.”
Janey Thornton, president of the School Nutrition Association (SNA) of Hardin County, Kentucky, said, “SNA believes strongly the secretary of Agriculture should have the authority to regulate the sale of food and beverages throughout the entire school, throughout the school day.” She added, “We need consistent standards in the school for two reasons: to promote wellness, but also to send a consistent nutrition education message to students…We have even seen a few schools drop out of the national program because of the difficulty of following state standards and purchasing foods that are consistent with local or state guidelines.”
Ms. Thornton also spoke about improving access to the school meals program for low-income children. “As we focus on improving the quality of school meals, we must not forget about those low-income students who qualify for the program but cannot afford to participate. SNA believes if a family qualifies for free WIC [Women Infants and Children] benefits, that family should also qualify for free school meals.”
Teresa Nece, director of Food and Nutrition for Des Moines, Iowa Public Schools, testified about the Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program operating in 14 states and three Indian tribal organizations. The successful program has made fresh fruit and vegetables available at no cost to students and teachers throughout the entire school day. Ms. Nece said, “This program has truly changed the way our students look at food and has broadened students’ food experiences with additional fresh fruit and vegetables.” She continued, “We have noted improved eating habits of students as well as a healthier school environment in our buildings. The focus in the schools has been the healthier choices offered throughout the day.” She concluded by saying, “[T]he fruit and vegetable program has been remarkably successful, not just fulfilling its stated purpose of increasing fruit and vegetable consumption, but also in helping to create something bigger namely, a culture of wellness and health promotion.”
“The American Beverage Association agrees that the obesity crisis is a complex, national challenge that requires us to reexamine old practices and find new solutions,” testified Susan Neely, president and CEO of the American Beverage Association. Ms. Neely discussed the efforts undertaken to “limit calories and increase nutritious beverages in schools” by a coalition consisting of the American Beverage Association, Cadbury Schweppes, the Coca-Cola Company, PepsiCo, and the Alliance for a Healthier Generation (a joint initiative of the Clinton Foundation and the American Heart Association). The voluntary guidelines established by the coalition would ban full-calorie soft drink products from schools at all grade levels, as well as provide specific and separate guidelines for elementary, middle and high schools. “We hope the committee appreciates the extraordinary steps our companies are taking with these guidelines. Our companies are removing full-calorie soft drinks from [schools] throughout America an unprecedented move by a member of the broader food and beverage industry…This does not come without real cost and risk to the industry.”
In her testimony, Mary Lou Hennrich, executive director of the Community Health Partnership in Portland, Oregon, advocated for setting national nutrition standards. “Most states and localities leave the development of dietary guidance to federal agencies. The majority of the nation’s 14,000 school districts are not equipped to develop science-based nutrition standards for school foods. A recent national analysis found that only 20 percent of the largest 100 school districts in the country have set specific nutrition standards for a la carte and vending in their recently-passed local wellness policies.” Ms. Hennrich continued, “[L]ocal control is an important consideration. However, the inherent value of local control must be weighed against the significant threat that childhood obesity poses to our children’s health.”
Kelly Brownell, director of the Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity, agreed with the need for a national nutrition standard, saying that “current school wellness policies demonstrate that local control results in uneven, haphazard standards that protect only some children. In Connecticut, the school districts with the best policies have strong leaders who are committed to children’s health. This is the type of leadership that every child in this country deserves and that the federal government can help provide.” Dr. Brownell also testified about the need to update the national school lunch program guidelines; “The National School Lunch Program is required to serve children foods that meet federal nutritional standards while excluding certain foods from sale (i.e., ‘Foods of Minimal Nutritional Value’ or FMNV). Classifying some foods as FMNV is a sound concept, but the definition of minimally healthful foods, established in 1979, is outdated and out of touch with the modern school environment.”
