I wanted to update readers on two school food-related bills pending in the House of Representatives:
“No Hungry Kids Act”
In the last few weeks, many – many! – TLT readers have contacted me in a panic over the “No Hungry Kids Act,” introduced by Republican congressman Steve King (R-IA). It’s gotten a lot of attention in part because it’s included in a larger bill (HR 610) that would essentially abolish the entire Department of Education, empowering that agency to do nothing except award block grants to states to be used in school voucher programs.
If you read the text of the bill that pertains to school food, it’s pretty clear why parents are so alarmed: it calls for a complete repeal of all nutrition standards currently governing the national school lunch and breakfast programs. Lovely.
But readers need to know that King has been trying to gain traction on this bill in the last three congressional sessions and it’s never gone anywhere. Sources I’ve spoken with in D.C. believe this current iteration of the bill will meet the same fate, noting that it has few co-sponsors and hasn’t been scheduled for a mark-up in the House Education and Workforce Committee. And PredictGov, which assesses the chances of a bill becoming law, gives HR 610 a mere 2 percent chance of enactment. (Apparently, the portion of the bill pertaining to education funding also seems to be a nonstarter, with observers assessing it as “dead on arrival.”)
If any of that changes, I’ll of course keep you posted here.
“American Food for American Schools Act of 2016”
Yesterday, Politico‘s Morning Agriculture report highlighted HR 6299, aka the “American Food for American Schools Act of 2016,” which was introduced in late February by Reps. Doug LaMalfa (R-CA) and John Garamendi (D-CA). The goal of the bill is to help ensure the safety of the food served to kids in school meal programs.
Here’s the background: Although school districts are currently required under a “Buy American” regulation to source all of their school food domestically, they’re allowed to bypass this restriction if they can demonstrate to the USDA that imported food is “significantly” less costly. But because food safety standards abroad may not be as rigorous as our own, districts’ exploitation of this loophole could potentially put children at risk of food-borne illnesses. Moreover, some districts are reportedly buying foreign products without even seeking USDA’s approval.
According to LaMalfa’s press release, the American Food for American Schools Act “would legally require school nutrition providers to seek a waiver in order to use foreign commodities and products. Additionally, waiver requests must be made available to the public to ensure accountability and provide American farmers and food providers an opportunity to seek out school districts that need affordable American-grown food.”
All of this may sound familiar to those of you who followed my and Nancy Huehnergarth’s successful Change.org campaign back in 2014 to keep chicken processed in China out of school meals. Before the petition’s launch, the USDA had mislead parents into believing that this potentially unsafe poultry couldn’t be used in school meals because of the “Buy American” provision, but as I exposed here on The Lunch Tray, schools could easily use the cost waiver described above. (In the case of our Chinese-processed poultry campaign, the waiver loophole was eliminated via language inserted into the last two federal budget bills defunding the purchase of such poultry for school meals.)
According to the Morning Agriculture report, the bill has the support of a number of agricultural groups as well as six co-sponsors from both sides of the aisle. I’ll keep you posted on the bill’s progress as warranted.
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Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2017 Bettina Elias Siegel
Kate Huber says
What about foods that aren’t grown in the US, like bananas?
Bettina Elias Siegel says
It looks like if a product simply isn’t produced domestically, districts can purchase it from a foreign supplier. More here.
Elizabeth says
Thank you for telling me about PredictGOV! What a helpful resource! Trump administration has me newly interested in citizen advocacy, but it’s daunting trying to figure out where bills/resolutions stand.
Bettina Elias Siegel says
It was new to me, too, Elizabeth! I can’t vouch for its accuracy but good to know about it!
Shmuel Bollen says
It looks like some of the nutrition standards are actually causing problems. I peeked at the School Nutrition Association’s 2017 position paper and lifted this quote- “Overly prescriptive regulations have resulted in unintended consequences, including reduced student lunch participation, higher costs and food waste.”.
What are your thoughts on that? As a taxpayer, I want to make sure the federal government spends wisely. It seems that there are ample opportunities to do that through rolling back some of the federal nutrition standards without reducing services to needy kids.
Bettina Elias Siegel says
Hi Shmuel. You ask a great question. First of all, it’s important to note that Rep. King’s No Hungry Kids Act would go much further in gutting school food standards than the School Nutrition Association has ever advocated for. While the SNA currently seeks to weaken somewhat the nutrition standards relating to whole grains and sodium, the organization continues to support the rest of the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act (HHFKA)’s 2012 overhaul of school meals, such as calorie caps, more fruits and vegetables, etc. King’s bill, on the other hand, would throw out all school nutrition standards, as I understand it. As for plate waste and changes in participation, please check out this piece I wrote on The Lunch Tray, cross-posted in Civil Eats, which summarizes an in-depth Pew research study on how schools are adapting. I think you’ll see that there are no clear-cut answers, with some schools seeing an increase in revenue and others struggling, some using effective strategies to reduce waste (like cutting up fruit) and others not, etc. etc. I think you’ll find the piece helpful in getting the full picture. Thanks for your comment here.
bw1 says
“What are your thoughts on that?”
The short answer is none. Bettina has shown consistent disregard for conserving taxpayer dollars. As with most single issue activists, it’s all about the agenda, no matter the cost. She has prioritized her own particularly bourgeois aesthetic food hangups over cost considerations for school food with her campaign against LFTB, a product to which she can produce no evidence for any other rational objection.
Bettina Elias Siegel says
As of March, 2016 I no longer respond to comments from this particular Lunch Tray reader: after several long years of debating with him/her, I’ve decided life’s just too short. But others can and should feel free to respond if they like.
Alexandra says
One problem that has not been discussed is how states could help supplement the federal aid to the school lunch program. Certainly, adding fresh fruits and vegetables to school lunches is going to result in higher cost to the school districts. In Texas, the Appropriations Committee is talking about budget cuts across the board rather than increasing the education budget. Although the state has surplus funds, there has been no consideration for increasing state aid to help school districts finance the needed improvements to the school lunch programs.
Bettina Elias Siegel says
I know, Alexandra. Just the other day I was lamenting with someone over the lack of interest in the TX legislature in funding school nutrition (with some limited exceptions.) It’s disheartening.