Colo. Lawmakers Consider Trans-Fat Ban In Schools

By KRISTEN WYATT, Associated Press

DENVER -- The nation's leanest state is taking aim at junk food in school cafeterias as it considers the nation's toughest school trans-fat ban.

A Colorado House committee was scheduled to hear a bill Thursday to forbid any trans-fat in school food - not just the food served through regular cafeteria lunches.

That would mean vending machines, after-school bake sales and popular "a la carte" items on lunch lines such as ice creams or pizza would have to be produced without artery-clogging trans fats.

Several states already limit trans-fat in school cafeterias, but none has a trans-fat ban that extends before and after school. Delaware and California, for example, both ban school food with trans-fat, but not at all after-school activities.

Colorado has the nation's lowest obesity rate, but young people are becoming fatter along with their counterparts in other states. In 2007, Colorado's childhood obesity rate was the nation's third-best. By 2010 it ranked 23rd according to the Colorado Health Foundation, a change researchers attribute to sedentary behavior and a growing childhood poverty rate.

Lawmakers who sponsored the trans-fat ban - a Republican and a Democrat - said Colorado needs to step up healthy eating among children to hang onto its prized leanest-state title.

"Colorado is one of the healthiest states but has the one of the highest rates of childhood obesity. So if we're going to do something about that, this is a step in the right direction," said one of the bill's sponsors, House Education Chairman Tom Massey, R-Poncha Springs.

The American Heart Association is working to assure skeptical Colorado lawmakers that the trans-fat ban wouldn't forbid childhood faves such as pizza and French fries. The bill also wouldn't affect naturally occurring trans-fat, such as that in beef and dairy.

"You can still have the exact same food. You'd have to find different ways of preparing them," association lobbyist Susanna Morris said.

Colorado's Department of Education says it doesn't have a statewide trans-fat standard. A spokeswoman for the state education department, Janelle Asmus, said a department review "found the amount of trans-fat in a school meal to be minimal" but added that the review didn't include items for sale in vending machines and after-school activities such as bake sales.

The Legislature has not estimated how much the change would cost local schools. Supporters insist that schools could serve the same foods, just switch to trans-fat-free shortening and oils. The bill would require no changes to school kitchens or how food is prepared.

Colorado's best-known school nutritionist says the complete trans-fat ban is do-able. Ann Cooper, author of the "Renegade Lunch Lady" blog, is in charge of food service at the Boulder Valley district, thought to be the only public school district in the state that is trans-fat free.

"We don't serve convenience food, we don't serve junk food," Cooper said. "That's where the trans-fat is. You cook from scratch, it's not a problem cutting all the trans-fat."

If approved, Colorado's trans-fat ban would take effect next school year. Supporters say the proposal may be amended to give schools more time to comply, a change they accept. The bill may also be amended to exempt fundraisers from the ban, protecting many sporting-event concessions such as nachos.

UPDATE: Kristen Wyatt tweeted Thursday that the hearing for the trans-fat bill (SB68) will be delayed:

@APkristenwyatt
Kristen Wyatt

Hearing for trans fat bill SB68 laid over till next week. Schwartz didnt say why when she announced delay #coleg

February 2, 2012 5:10 pm via web Reply Retweet Favorite

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Comments

[trekie70]

12:32 AM on 02/05/2012

Lots of interesting comments on this thread. I still believe providing full disclosure and letting people decide for themselves. That said, I would suggest the following:

-ensure that PE is restored to being an integral part of the public school day
-provide detailed health education to all public school students and require such a course to graduate
-require vending machine companies to provide consumers a way to recognize healthy choices based on an established std.
-require schools to, by color coding or another method, label lunch line food choices and provide detailed nutritional information to students/parents upon request

People may resent being told what they can/should eat but no one can complain about being provided information with which to make a choice.

[megsy123]

02:01 AM on 02/04/2012

Legalize pot, but ban fat...makes no sense, the gov has no business here as usual.

[newsmyrnasuite]

03:01 PM on 02/03/2012

We didn't have to worry about this in my generation. Artificial Trans-fats and hydrogenated oils didn't exist and we mostly ate whole foods cooked fresh at home and at school. Everything has these artery cloggers now and you must read all the labels. So many other chemicals and harmful elements to processed foods that are killing our kids and taking away their future as healthy adults. And the crooked politicians let it happen without a care in the world. They only worry about their own skin.

[Janzee12000]

02:14 PM on 02/03/2012

This would not work here in Texas. " Total Cost of Ownership" is not factored into short term profits and some of those profits are used to influence public policy. *And the wheel goes round-n-round*

[cobraloos]

01:43 PM on 02/03/2012

Maybe they should simply weigh each child, restrict calories for the fat ones, and make them run a mile or two until they shape up.

[Janzee12000]

02:07 PM on 02/03/2012

Dad?

[megsy123]

01:59 AM on 02/04/2012

Totally the govts. job!

[segami]

01:42 PM on 02/03/2012

Come on those of you having a problem with this - this is a good thing! It used to be that cafeterias cooked their own meals for students anyway so what is the big fuss? The fact is that the mega corporate food world has infiltrated the school districts of America. And their buddies in Washington have made sure that the corporations stay in the schools by voting in the interest of corporate fake pizza instead of the interest of our children.

[cobraloos]

01:37 PM on 02/03/2012

Residents of the state of Colorado should be insulted to learn their state legislators consider them so helpless. Is a new law really required to force dieticians who plan school lunches to serve well-balanced, nutritious meals?

[mspender]

08:05 PM on 02/03/2012

No, it is not. And nowhere in the article does it say that this would be "a new law really required to force dieticians who plan school lunches to serve well-balan­ced, nutritious meals". It's about banning harmful, artery-clogging trans-fats in all food available to students, including that sold in vending machines. I can't imagine why that can be so terrible.

[megsy123]

02:00 AM on 02/04/2012

Some people can't imagine why a ban on marijuana is terrible either.

[cobraloos]

07:38 AM on 02/04/2012

If a state legislature is allowed to ban FDA approved food ingredients from school lunches, then it is only a small step for the same state legislature to start demanding certain additives to the same lunches. Think birth control for the girls, weight loss drugs for the fatties, and growth hormones for the smaller ones. It could all be done to make more perfect children.

[map1246]

01:22 PM on 02/03/2012

Food Na zis at work.

[thorrsman]

01:13 PM on 02/03/2012

Funny, but here, we hear a lot about how the Boulder Valley School district is BEGGING for more children in their breakfast and lunch programs since they went to "healthy" meals.

The reason? Their food tastes horrible. Ah, you say, but it is healthy! Perhaps yes, perhaps no--given all the changes there have been in what the government considered "healthy" over the decades--but if no one wants to eat it, what good are their "healthy" meals doing, sitting in the warming trays?

[alteredstory]

01:14 PM on 02/03/2012

In the past, however, healthy food hasn't even been an OPTION.

[thorrsman]

01:18 PM on 02/03/2012

Yes it was. I went to school in Colorado decades back. Those who chose to eat what the school offered had plenty of healthy choices. This current hysteria about "healthy" ignores the basic fact that what is considered "healthy" is constantly changing. I recall the "white sugar" scare that led to the use of "high fructose corn syrup" which is today's boogyman in food, and which will be replaced tomorrow by something else as the hysterics are overruled by calmer heads dealing in actual science and need to find something new to frighten the uneducated with.

[marymeade2]

11:11 PM on 02/03/2012

Bull, that is a lie. I grew up on packed lunches and my family ate healthy fresh food, not fast food, or frozen. Fresh homemade meals. I'm over sixty now and still healthy and so are my children. No school ever told me what to do or how to do it. Had they, I'd have moved my child out of that school. Do your job.

[bluespagan]

12:57 PM on 02/03/2012

Childhood obesity needs to be tackled in more ways than one. Limiting a child's fat and calorie intake is one way but when you don't add in physical activity you may as well be fighting an uphill battle. These kids need to given P.E and recess back instead of it being cut for more time at their desk. They need to be taught how to live well rounded healthy lives that include a good diet and exercise.

[Scott Wilson]

12:47 PM on 02/03/2012

I think this whole thing is just a ploy to trick Sarah Palin into delivering free cookies to Colorado.

[karim banned]

12:41 PM on 02/03/2012

Trans-Fat has been targeted as the "bad guy" because the food industry knows how to remove it from the food.

Trans-Fat is not the main problem. Saturated Fat is the main reason behind obesity and heart attacks.

Trans-Fat is only a byproduct when food industry try to hydrogenate the liquid fat (non-saturated fat) and make a ticker oil (saturated fat).

If they remove the saturated fat from the food, their product will lose some of the properties that make them attractive, for example the Chocolate Blocks become too powdery, not so creamy, and they melt much easier in room temperature.

The Trans-Fat propaganda shows how corrupt media keeps the population to get correct information.

This is only one of the ways food industry tries to misguide uninformed population.

The more serious issues is the labeling of the calorie content in the food. That needs almost a book to explain how the food industry manipulate data so people who look at the labels choose the type of food that are not good for them.

[Realber]

01:09 PM on 02/03/2012

Absolutely wrong. Weight gain is the main reason behind obesity and heart attacks. That is caused by blood sugar spikes and insulin resistance, which is caused by CARBOHYDRATES and SUGAR.

The only studies that show a problem with saturated fats are those where the subjects are fed unhealthy high-carbohydrate diets. Eliminate those unnecessary sugars and carbs, and saturated fat is shown to be very good for your health-- much better than Omega-6 unsaturated fats which Americans get far, far too much of. And low-fat diets are truly awful for your health.

You can eat as many calories as you want, but your body only stores them if it has an incentive to do so. Otherwise the extra calories just end up as waste. That incentive is blood sugar spikes and insulin resistance, which are NOT caused by saturated fats.

The health problem with trans fats, by the way, is NOT just weight gain. The article is misleading. Trans fats cause all kinds of health problems aside from weight gain. They are poison and should absolutely be removed from school food.

[Realber]

01:11 PM on 02/03/2012

This is ridiculous. Saturated fats (olive oil, butter, coconut oil) are perfectly healthy for you. It's the omega-6 and trans fats that cause problems, not to mention the FLOUR and SUGAR that our kids eat for every meal.

[karim banned]

04:07 PM on 02/03/2012

"Saturated fats

These fats are derived from animal products such as meat, dairy and eggs. But they are also found in some plant-based sources such as coconut, palm and palm kernel oils. These fats are solid at room temperature. Saturated fats directly raise total and LDL (bad) cholesterol levels. Conventional advice says to Avoid them as much as possible. More recently, some have questioned this, as there are different kinds of saturated fats, some of which have at least a neutral effect on cholesterol. "

http://lowfatcooking.about.com/od/lowfatbasics/a/fats1004.htm

[marymeade2]

11:16 PM on 02/03/2012

Why doesn't the government mandate parenting classes? You seem to know a lot about nutrition, why not start educating idiot adults and then maybe the government would stay out of our private lives.

[elgeezr]

12:25 PM on 02/03/2012

I want to express my thanks to all the Nannies who have taken on the responsibility of protecting me from myself. After all, they are smarter, more compassionate, and more caring and I would be a total mess if it weren't for them. When I think of all the children dependent only on their ignorant parents for lunch everyday I weep. Honestly, I believe we all owe a vote of thanks to these people.

[T4Obama]

12:48 PM on 02/03/2012

Yeah, shame on us because we don't want our health insurance costs and taxes to go up due to your slovenly lifestyle. Obesity costs taxpayers $150 billion per year. Those numbers come from the oh so liberal WSJ. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203609204574316022329001200.html

[elgeezr]

08:04 PM on 02/03/2012

Problem is, we are a very rich country. We have way too many choices when it comes to food & we eat way too much of it.

[marymeade2]

11:17 PM on 02/03/2012

Get out in your community and teach those stupid parents. That's where it starts. If you are so upset about the cost, do something.

[atcrossroads]

01:03 PM on 02/03/2012

So, if there are all these educated loving parents preparing healthy meals for their offspring, and the kids make such informed, healthy choices for themselves, then why are more and more children obese? Lack of exercise is certainly a contributor, but it is definitely not the only culprit.

[SunnyFlo]

01:15 PM on 02/03/2012

Parents buy what they can afford. I would love to eat asparagus that was sung to and beef that was raised in a classical opera house, but I can't afford too. Has anyone been to the grocery store lately? Corn, wheat and soy all going through the roof. I'm sure futures speculation has nothing to do with it. Trans-fats are poison. If someone put antifreeze in my ice cream I would want it out of there. Even if it does taste sweet.

[elgeezr]

08:00 PM on 02/03/2012

It's calories my friend. The healthiest meals in the world won't help if you eat far more than you need.

[GWNumber1]

11:43 AM on 02/03/2012

The taxpayers need to stop paying to feed obese "poor" people...and then paying the excess healthcare costs caused by that obesity.

Want food stamps?

Step on the scale!

[Bufford P Tusser]

11:47 AM on 02/03/2012

funny guy, you do realize the fattest of states are ALL red don't you.

I got a better Idea, lets starve all you pubs back to health.

[GWNumber1]

11:56 AM on 02/03/2012

And your point?

[Denise Potter]

01:15 PM on 02/03/2012

Know what...a lot of people getting food stamps are not only not obese, but struggle to keep enough food in the house. My husband and I get $29.00/mo in food stamps. I use that to buy VEGETABLES fresh and frozen. Right now I have fresh kale, romaine lettuce, red chard and frozen cauliflower, broccoli, green beans, brussel sprouts, spinach, turnip and collard greens waiting to be lightly sauted in a drizzle of olive oil and flavored with garlic. Sometimes that's dinner. Did I mention we are skinny old people? People like you and Mitt Romney, who make blanket, condescending comments about the less financially fortunate should really pull your heads out and take a good look around at your fellow citizens.

[GWNumber1]

11:42 AM on 02/03/2012

Someone stands to make big money if this passes.....how many legislators did they buy? How much does a legislator cost?

[robadeaux]

12:27 PM on 02/03/2012

The big money is in the trans fat foods being pushed off on the children.