I wanted to remind TLT readers that midnight tomorrow, April 9th, marks the end of USDA’s public comment period on its proposed ”competitive” school food rules. For those needing a refresher, “competitive food” is food that competes with the federally subsidized breakfast and lunch programs. We’re talking about the snack foods and beverages offered on school [...]
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After months of delay, the USDA today released its proposed rules governing the nutritional quality of so-called “competitive” foods and beverages offered on school campuses. To refresh everyone’s memory, competitive food and beverages are those offered in competition with the federally subsidized school meal, and are sold via vending machines, school stores, fundraisers, snack bars [...]
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On my Houston ISD school food blog, The Spork Report, I once shared a candid photo of a Houston middle schooler’s “lunch:” a bag of Baked Flamin’ Hot Cheetos doused in cheesy nacho sauce: Both of those items were purchased by the student from one of my district’s cafeteria a la carte lines (to be [...]
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As many of you know, the new USDA “competitive food” rules are due to be released before the end of this year (though likely after the presidential election.) These rules will regulate all food offered on school campuses apart from the federal school meal, i.e., food from vending machines, school stores, fundraisers, and the school’s [...]
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Today’s New York Post has a story (in which I’m quoted) about eighth grade students in Queens who, due to school cafeteria overcrowding, will be required to eat their “lunch” this year at 9:45am. Not surprisingly, their parents are howling. It’s easy to criticize ridiculously early lunch hours (who wants to eat roast chicken before 10am, a mere [...]
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Most of us now have our kids back in school or we soon will. And for some parents, that means returning kids to classrooms rife with unwanted candy rewards, food-based classroom birthday celebrations, junk food sold “a la carte” in the cafeteria, vending machines with sugary juice and sports drinks, and highly processed, chemical-laden school [...]
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I was recently in touch with a mom who works regularly in the school store at her kids’ high school. The store sells some of the worst junk foods — Funyuns, candy, sodas, etc. — which she often sees the kids grabbing in large quantities for breakfast or lunch. But one of the ways the [...]
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As many of you know, I’ve long been concerned about the quality of the so-called “a la carte” items sold by my district, Houston ISD (the nation’s seventh largest) in its cafeterias and snack bar lines. These foods, offered in direct competition with the federally reimbursable meal and sold only to turn a profit, tend [...]
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Sometimes I get a reader comment which merits a full post in response. Such is the case with two comments (and later, a third) submitted by reader “bw1″ to last week’s cupcake post, “A Passionate Dad Defends the In-Class Birthday Treat, and I Respond.” In essence, bw1 feels it’s my job to instill in my [...]
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Copy it. Share It. Nail it to the schoolhouse door.
My Own Letter to USDA re: The Competitive School Food Rules
by Bettina Elias Siegel on April 9, 2013
Well, nothing like waiting until the last minute. As I’ve been telling you all repeatedly, USDA’s deadline for submitting comments on the proposed competitive school food rules is 11:59 tonight, but I only just finished writing my own letter this morning! I thought you all might be interested in reading my letter, the text of [...]
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