Photo by SpecialKRB
Did you know that french fries are a vegetable? According to US school lunch guidelines, they are.
That's just one grim fact I came across while researching what kids eat in school these days. The most shocking fact is that schools only receive $2.74 per meal through the National School Lunch Program (NSLP), which translates to less than a $1 on actual ingredients (and even less in cities with higher labor costs).
It's no surprise that school lunch menus look more like carnival food than lunch. French fries, corn dogs, pizza, and soda are staples. Meals arrive frozen and are heated in school kitchens. It's difficult to do more on just $1.
Yet lack of funding isn't the only problem. Many argue that the U.S.D.A. has a looming conflict of interest since one part of the agency is responsible with providing school children nutritious food and another helps agricultural companies sell surplus meat. One USA Today article reported that schools have received millions of pounds of meat from the government that wouldn't even meet quality or safety standards of many fast-food restaurants. And a followup article reveals that the chicken sent to schools by the USDA are otherwise used in pet food and compost.
Pet food? Kids deserve more. As Congress prepares to discuss the Child Nutrition Act, President Obama has asked for an additional $1 billion, roughly 30 cents more per lunch, in funding. Others, like mom and activist Dana Woldow are lobbying for more.
"The only way to move towards acceptable meals is more funding," she says.
Woldow is a full-time volunteer and Founder of the Student Nutrition and Physical Activity Committee for the San Francisco school system. She is responsible for removing soda machines, bringing in more fresh produce, and developing a solution to reduce the stigma for kids receiving free lunch, a debit-like card where either parents or the government add money for kids to make their food purchases.
All three of her kids have since graduated, yet Woldow continues to fight. When I asked her why, she responded: "I know way too much to walk away now. I can't let these kids eat like this. Someone needs to fight for them. I'm up for the battle."
TAKE ACTION
Educate Yourself: Attend the Putting Children's Health on the Table free web forum on February 1st.
Sign a Petition: Slow Food USA has launched the Time for Lunch campaign to urge congress to raise funding for school lunches.
Volunteer: Action for Healthy Kids lists ways to volunteer in your community.
Follow Halle Tecco on Twitter: www.twitter.com/halletecco
Annie B. Bond: Slow Food: A Tale of Two Tomatoes
http://namastecharterschool.org/
Thanks!
twitter.com/zweber
I used to purchase a hot lunch from school and that would be my dinner. For dinner, I'd have lunch at home. Now....I brown bag. I wouldn't eat the food they serve. I've read too many reports of downer cows being sold to schools and we don't hear about it for five months. Chickens only fit for dog food. A few years ago I tried eating a meal involving some sort of mystery meat I purchased at school. I ended up throwing it out after I gagged on it. It was inedible.
No one would think of allocating $1.00 per meal to feed their child. Why do we think schools can somehow provide nutritious quality food for $1.00?
The fat the GOP trimmed from school budgets didn't go anywhere. That fat is in school lunches. It is literally fat because meat, fruit and vegetables cost money and fat is cheap.
$1 menu but really it's not any better.
It's too bad really we whine about paying taxes but don't get that a lot of it goes for school funding and when it gets cut the school lunch program usually takes the hit.
Best advice seems to be make the lunch for the child, and have em take a sack or lunchbox.
At least you have control over it.
http://www.fns.usda.gov/wic/WIC-Fact-Sheet.pdf
Also, the canned fruit and applesauce are made with high fructose corn syrup.
People think that boomers are going to tax the health care system. Just wait until today's kids reach retirement age. We have a huge health care disaster in the making.