Since this will be a short week on TLT, I wanted to do a quick-and-dirty link round-up to keep you abreast of some important kid-and-food developments.
Child Nutrition Bill Still Pending in Lame Duck Session
The child nutrition bill which would improve and increase funding for school food is still stalled in the House of Representatives. The issue blocking passage is the question of funding: the bill, as written, currently uses money from the food stamp program. From Two Angry Moms’ Facebook page, here’s a good essay on the horrible food-stamps-versus-lunch conundrum and the ways in which individual hunger impacts our entire society.
Food Safety Bill in the Senate
As you may know, there’s an important food safety bill in the Senate right now. The WashPo has a summary of what’s going on here and also an interview with Michael Pollan about the bill here. This issue is of course not just kid-and-food related — in this age of massive salmonella egg recalls and worry over seemingly innocuous foods like fresh spinach carrying E. coli, we would all benefit from greater food safety oversight.
Kellogg’s Loses Class Action Lawsuit Over Frosted Mini Wheats Claim
This one is right up my alley as a former advertising lawyer and kid-and-food blogger: Kellogg’s has lost a class action lawsuit regarding product claims that eating Mini Wheats cereal will improve children’s attention spans. The FTC had previously gone after Kellogg’s for this type of attention claim for its Mini Wheats, as well as for improved immunity claims for its Rice Krispies cereal (which campaign was launched right at the height of parents’ swine flu fears.) Although it would have made my life more difficult when I was an in-house advertising lawyer, it’s heartening to see that the FTC is now more actively policing these sorts of potentially misleading front label claims.
A New Blog to Share: Feed Our Families
When TLT was named as a Jamie Oliver Blog of the Month last week, I learned for the first time of my co-award-winner, a blog called “Feed Our Families.” It’s written by Gina Rau, who has a background in the food industry and who now helps families feed themselves better. It’s full of recipes, ideas for getting the whole family to eat well, tips on meal-planning, food budgets, organization, and more. Check it out!
Em says
On the subject of food safety, let me just remind everyone how important it is this pre-Thanskgiving Tuesday. I was forcefully reminded of this when a co-worker’s 10-year-old son was hospitalized (again) for the salmonella poisoning he got by eating eggs from his school’s salad bar months ago. He was actually hospitalized twice over the last few days, the second time because his fever got so bad he had a seizure. The doctors are talking about the possibility of lifelong kidney problems, and all because we’ve let the food lobbyists win. Important stuff! And it behooves us all to take action.
bettina elias siegel says
Em: What a horrible story, and such a good reminder of the importance of this issue. I wish the family well and hope their son eventually recovers fully. – Bettina
Renee says
There is so much misinformation going around about this bill too –people have posted about how this bill will not allow you to grow vegetables in your garden, or save seeds. That’s all BS, but since these bills are so difficult (and long) to read, people believe it. That is so frustrating.