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Congress considers US ban on unhealthy food in school
Ohanian Comment: It took me years to get soda out of our middle school cafeteria. Opposition came from the school administrators and from the PTA--because the PTA made money off the sales.
I say, "Let them learn to eat broccoli."
by Kim Severson
NEW YORK - Congress is considering the broadest effort ever to limit what children eat: a national ban on selling candy, sugary soda, and salty, fatty food in school snack bars, vending machines, and a la carte cafeteria lines.
Whether the measure, an amendment to the farm bill, can survive the convoluted politics that have bogged down that legislation in the Senate is one issue. Whether it can survive the battle among factions in the fight to improve school food is another.
Senator Tom Harkin, Democrat of Iowa, the chairman of the Agriculture Committee, has twice introduced bills to deal with foods other than the standard school lunch, which is regulated by Agriculture Department.
Several lawmakers and advocates for changes in school food believe that an amendment to the $286 billion farm bill is the best chance to get control of the mountain of high-calorie snacks and sodas available to school children. Even if the farm bill does not pass, Harkin and Senator Lisa Murkowski, Republican of Alaska, who is also sponsoring the amendment, vow to keep reintroducing it in other forms until it sticks.
They are optimistic about their chances because there is more public interest than ever in improving school food, and because leaders in the food and beverage industry have had a hand in creating the new standards.
But that intense corporate involvement, along with exemptions that would allow sales of chocolate milk, sports drinks, and diet soda, has caused a rift among food activists who usually find themselves on the same side of school food battles.
"This pits ideals about what children should eat at school against the political reality of large food corporations insisting their foods be available to children at all times," said Dr. Marion Nestle, a professor at New York University and the author of two recent books on food politics and diet. "The activists want vending machines out of schools completely," said Nestle, who has taken no public stand on the measure.
The nutrition standards would allow only plain, bottled water and 8-ounce servings of fruit juice or plain or flavored low-fat milk with up to 170 calories to be sold in elementary and middle schools. High school students could buy diet soda or, in places like school gyms, sports drinks. Other drinks with as many as 66 calories per 8 ounces could be sold in high schools, but that threshold would drop to 25 calories per 8-ounce serving in five years.
Food for sale would have to be limited in saturated and trans fat and have less than 35 percent sugar. Sodium would be limited, and snacks must have no more than 180 calories per serving for middle and elementary school students, and 200 calories for high schools students.
The standards would not affect occasional fund-raising projects, such as Girl Scout cookie sales.
Although states would not be able to pass stronger restrictions, individual school districts could.
The rules have the support of food and drink manufacturers, including the American Beverage Association and the Center for Science in the Public Interest.
— Kim Severson
Boston Globe
2007-12-02
INDEX OF OUTRAGES
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