Health News
With students and teachers returning, school food-service directors are working to implement the new federal school lunch regulations that take effect this year. This would be a good story for local news media, since it affects almost every student.
As school resumes, another school food program is up for debate. Congress is deciding whether frozen, canned and dried produce should be included in the Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program. House Republicans say yes, to save money and make a wider range of options available year round. But the Senate is pushing to keep the program limited to fresh fruit and vegetables only. The argument ? or food fight, as Dina ElBoghdady of The Washington Post calls it ? has trade and other groups weighing in.
"If the goal is to expand and improve upon childhood nutrition, it doesn't make sense to limit the kinds of fruit and vegetables that schools serve," said Corey Henry, a spokesman for the American Frozen Food Institute. "Let the schools decide." But Sandi Kaur, acting director of nutrition services at the California Department of Education, disagrees, saying "it's the fresh that makes this program unique."
More than 50,000 students in 125 Kentucky elementary schools benefit from the program, run by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. To see which schools participate, click here. The program allows schools to distribute fresh fruit and vegetables as snacks to students and has "raised consumption in participating schools by a quarter-cup per day, or 15 percent," ElBoghdady reports. "The increase did not contribute to weight gain, suggesting that the fruit and vegetables replaced other foods." Last year, USDA spent $150 million to pay for the snacks for 3 million children. (Read more)
- Scheduling Lunch After Recess, Very Unusual In Elementaries, May Lead To Less Food Waste And Better Nutrition, Study Says
Scheduling school lunch later in the day could help children to eat more nutritious foods and reduce food waste, according to a study at seven schools in Utah. Researchers found that children threw away more food when they ate lunch before recess instead...
- Kentucky School Officials Make Foods Look More Appetizing And Easier To Eat, In Order To Decrease Food Waste
Some school districts are working to keep fruits and vegetables from being thrown out by students who seem to be unhappy with their school lunches that must follow stricter nutrition guidelines to get federal subsidies. "The key to getting students to...
- Comer Encourages Kentucky Schools To Serve Fresh Local Foods On 'farm Fresh Fridays'
State Agriculture Commissioner James Comer wants Kentucky schools to offer fresh, local foods for students on Farm Fresh Fridays. The program will launch with Farm to School Month in October, according to a Department of Agriculture press release....
- 128 Kentucky Schools Get Money For Fresh Fruits And Veggies
More than 50,000 students in 128 Kentucky elementary schools will be served fresh fruits and vegetables in the coming school years as part of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program. The program ensures children are...
- Bowling Green Schools Buy Local Foods, Reap Rewards From State
Bowling Green Independent Schools are working with the Kentucky Department of Agriculture and nearby farms and purveyors to offer locally grown food in their cafeterias, Jenna Mink of the Bowling Green Daily News reports. This year, the district has...
Health News
As schools resume and prepare to follow new lunch rules, federal fruit and vegetable snack program is up for debate
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| Bloomberg photo by Ian Waldie |
As school resumes, another school food program is up for debate. Congress is deciding whether frozen, canned and dried produce should be included in the Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program. House Republicans say yes, to save money and make a wider range of options available year round. But the Senate is pushing to keep the program limited to fresh fruit and vegetables only. The argument ? or food fight, as Dina ElBoghdady of The Washington Post calls it ? has trade and other groups weighing in.
"If the goal is to expand and improve upon childhood nutrition, it doesn't make sense to limit the kinds of fruit and vegetables that schools serve," said Corey Henry, a spokesman for the American Frozen Food Institute. "Let the schools decide." But Sandi Kaur, acting director of nutrition services at the California Department of Education, disagrees, saying "it's the fresh that makes this program unique."
More than 50,000 students in 125 Kentucky elementary schools benefit from the program, run by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. To see which schools participate, click here. The program allows schools to distribute fresh fruit and vegetables as snacks to students and has "raised consumption in participating schools by a quarter-cup per day, or 15 percent," ElBoghdady reports. "The increase did not contribute to weight gain, suggesting that the fruit and vegetables replaced other foods." Last year, USDA spent $150 million to pay for the snacks for 3 million children. (Read more)
- Scheduling Lunch After Recess, Very Unusual In Elementaries, May Lead To Less Food Waste And Better Nutrition, Study Says
Scheduling school lunch later in the day could help children to eat more nutritious foods and reduce food waste, according to a study at seven schools in Utah. Researchers found that children threw away more food when they ate lunch before recess instead...
- Kentucky School Officials Make Foods Look More Appetizing And Easier To Eat, In Order To Decrease Food Waste
Some school districts are working to keep fruits and vegetables from being thrown out by students who seem to be unhappy with their school lunches that must follow stricter nutrition guidelines to get federal subsidies. "The key to getting students to...
- Comer Encourages Kentucky Schools To Serve Fresh Local Foods On 'farm Fresh Fridays'
State Agriculture Commissioner James Comer wants Kentucky schools to offer fresh, local foods for students on Farm Fresh Fridays. The program will launch with Farm to School Month in October, according to a Department of Agriculture press release....
- 128 Kentucky Schools Get Money For Fresh Fruits And Veggies
More than 50,000 students in 128 Kentucky elementary schools will be served fresh fruits and vegetables in the coming school years as part of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program. The program ensures children are...
- Bowling Green Schools Buy Local Foods, Reap Rewards From State
Bowling Green Independent Schools are working with the Kentucky Department of Agriculture and nearby farms and purveyors to offer locally grown food in their cafeterias, Jenna Mink of the Bowling Green Daily News reports. This year, the district has...