It’s one of those weeks when the school food news is coming in so fast, I can’t keep up! Here’s a quick round-up of articles of interest: A Fourth-Grader Goes Undercover in the Cafeteria – Are His Findings Accurate? Many of you have already seen on TLT’s Facebook page today’s New York Times blog account of a [...]
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Iowa Congressman Steve King, a critic of the new school food regulations, made news earlier this week by introducing a bill to roll back the regulations’ new calorie limits. Called the ”No Hungry Kids Act,” King’s proposed legislation (co-sponsored by fellow Republican Tim Huelskamp) would allow schools to serve unlimited calories to children rather than capping meals at 650 [...]
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On today’s Spork Report, I discuss intensive school food audit going on in my district this week. While a USDA and state “Coordinated Review Effort” is routine, it’s also a big deal and the district has been working hard for months to prepare for it. Also, as I mention in the post, tomorrow First Lady Michelle [...]
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The New York Times has an excellent article today describing the stiff opposition of the food industry (along with some Congressional representatives of potato-producing states) against current attempts to improve school food nutrition standards. According to the report, over $5.6 million has been spent to date by lobbyists opposing the proposed school food rules to be [...]
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For a long time now I’ve wanted to alert TLT readers to an important development — the rising price of school meals — but, frankly, out of sheer laziness that post has languished in my Drafts folder for months. Today I got the impetus I needed when the New York Times published a front section story [...]
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In the early days of TLT I used to post here as often as four or five times a day (really!) but sometimes a post was little more than my passing on a link to an interesting kid-and-food article. Eventually I regained my sanity and I now use TLT’s Facebook page for that purpose. (By [...]
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It seems so simple, right? A thirsty kid just wants a drink of water with his or her school lunch. We know that hydration is essential to keeping children alert for academic learning, and for those who oppose flavored milk in school lunch rooms, the presence of freely available water seems all the more important [...]
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The Huffington Post has a feature today on “America’s best school lunches,” highlighting in particular ten school food programs using produce from local farms as well as from school-run gardens. According to the piece, forty-six states now have farm-to-school programs: More than a million school-age children in New York City’s public schools are eating four [...]
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Yesterday, in conjunction with the signing of the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act, the White House released this chart purporting to show what school meals will look like “before and after” the legislation is in effect: I know it’s hard to read on the screen, so here’s an excerpt from the menu as described in the [...]
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Copy it. Share It. Nail it to the schoolhouse door.
BREAKING: USDA Issues Proposed Rules for School “Competitive Food” and My Analysis
by Bettina Elias Siegel on February 1, 2013
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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