Health News
- Research Indicates That Students Throw Away Less Food Since New, Healthier Lunch Rules Were Put In Place
One of the most consistent complaints about the healthier school-lunch standards is that more food ends up in the garbage can, but a three-year study at urban middle schools says the opposite is true. "Overall, the revised meal standards and policies...
- Spending Bill Allows Schools That Show 'hardship' To Vary From Requirement To Serve 100 Percent Whole Grains
By Melissa Patrick Kentucky Health News The massive 2015 spending bill signed by President Obama Dec. 16 includes a provision to help schools struggling with the whole-grain and sodium requirements that are part of the Healthy, Hungry-Free Kids Act. It...
- #thanksmichelleobama: Students Use Social Media To Voice Their Unhappiness With Revamped School Lunches
School kids around the country are tweeting pictures of their unappetizing school lunches and blaming the most prominent advocate for healthier school meals for their "bowls of mush and mystery proteins," Roberto A. Ferdman reports for The Washington...
- Most Kentucky Schools Adapting Well To New Federal Nutrition Rules, Usda Official With Kentucky Background Says
While one Kentucky school district has ditched the federal school-meals program and the money that comes with it, an official of the U.S. Department of Agriculture?s Food, Nutrition and Consumer Services says that most Kentucky schools are creatively...
- New School Nutrition Requirements Extend To Snacks, Beverages And A La Carte Cafeteria Items
By Melissa Patrick Kentucky Health News Schools will have to provide students with healthier snacks and beverages during the school day this year as part of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's "Smart Snacks in School" standards. The Hunger-Free...
Health News
Advocates of school nutrition standards use high-school chefs' competition to show that food can still taste good
The higher school-food standards required by the Child Nutrition Act expire this year, and Republicans are continuing their efforts to roll back some of them. Democrats and advocates of the standards used a student cooking event on Capitol Hill to generate support for the standards, apparently to counter arguments of some school nutrition directors that some of the healthier options are more difficult to prepare and serve.
In the final competition, the top nine high-school teams served their winning dishes to lawmakers. The dishes had to follow their cafeterias' budgets and the national standards: To win, students had to include products rich in whole grains, low in sodium and a half-cup of fruits and vegetables, Whitney Forman-Cook reports for Agri-Pulse, a Washington newsletter. She doesn't list any of the dishes, but they're listed with the winners on the "Cooking Up Change" website of the Healthy Schools Campaign.
Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., hosted the event. She said that she and Senate Agriculture Committee Chariman Pat Roberts, R-Kan., who has vowed to roll back some of the standards, have been discussing the issue, and she would like to pass a bipartisan bill by Sept. 30, when the current law's authority ends. One standard Stabenow doesn't want to compromise on is the requirement for a half-cup of fruit and vegetables; Michigan is a big fruit and vegetable state.
Stabenow said the Department of Agriculture "is very willing to work with schools where there are issues" in meeting nutrition requirements. (Read more)
Stabenow said the Department of Agriculture "is very willing to work with schools where there are issues" in meeting nutrition requirements. (Read more)
- Research Indicates That Students Throw Away Less Food Since New, Healthier Lunch Rules Were Put In Place
One of the most consistent complaints about the healthier school-lunch standards is that more food ends up in the garbage can, but a three-year study at urban middle schools says the opposite is true. "Overall, the revised meal standards and policies...
- Spending Bill Allows Schools That Show 'hardship' To Vary From Requirement To Serve 100 Percent Whole Grains
By Melissa Patrick Kentucky Health News The massive 2015 spending bill signed by President Obama Dec. 16 includes a provision to help schools struggling with the whole-grain and sodium requirements that are part of the Healthy, Hungry-Free Kids Act. It...
- #thanksmichelleobama: Students Use Social Media To Voice Their Unhappiness With Revamped School Lunches
School kids around the country are tweeting pictures of their unappetizing school lunches and blaming the most prominent advocate for healthier school meals for their "bowls of mush and mystery proteins," Roberto A. Ferdman reports for The Washington...
- Most Kentucky Schools Adapting Well To New Federal Nutrition Rules, Usda Official With Kentucky Background Says
While one Kentucky school district has ditched the federal school-meals program and the money that comes with it, an official of the U.S. Department of Agriculture?s Food, Nutrition and Consumer Services says that most Kentucky schools are creatively...
- New School Nutrition Requirements Extend To Snacks, Beverages And A La Carte Cafeteria Items
By Melissa Patrick Kentucky Health News Schools will have to provide students with healthier snacks and beverages during the school day this year as part of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's "Smart Snacks in School" standards. The Hunger-Free...