First lady Michele Obama is known to be a staunch promoter of programs that aim to address health problems that affect the youth such as childhood obesity. Her campaigns for better health and nutrition are apparently clashing with a new bill that congressional Republicans introduced last week.
House Republicans proposed that schools that lose money on the current school food program be allowed to opt out from serving healthier lunches that limit the fat, sugar, sodium and caloric intake of kids. The proposal was due to concerns that some schools find the program too restrictive and even costly. Some school officials also report that kids actually throw away the fruits and vegetables that they are supposed to eat
Leah Schmidt, from the School Nutrition Association, a group of school-nutrition employees and companies that provide food to schools, said school meal programs need to be more flexible in terms of planning the menu so as to increase students' consumption of healthy foods while minimizing the amount of food that are thrown away. The group supports the proposed changes to the school nutrition program that the first lady has advocated for.
On Tuesday, Mrs. Obama criticized lawmakers and lobbying groups that are trying to make changes to the current school lunch standard that aims to increase the kids' consumption of fresh fruits, vegetables and whole grains, saying it isn't time to roll things back now that efforts to curb childhood obesity and malnutrition appear to be working.
"It's unacceptable to me not just as first lady but also as a mother," Obama said. "The last thing we can afford to do right now is play politics with our kids' health. Now is not the time to roll back everything we have worked for."
The current school lunch standard was implemented when President Obama signed the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act into law in 2010, which sets limits on the amount of processed foods and increases the amount of fruits and vegetables that are served in school cafeterias.
Nutrition experts also expressed concerns that the waiver could stall or even halt positive developments in student nutrition. For instance, David Binkle, deputy director of food services for the Los Angeles Unified School District, said that the healthier foods that are served in schools are producing positive outcomes.
"It is no coincidence," Binkle said, "that our test scores are up, attendance is up and graduation rates are up."
