The Future of School Food Means the Future Health of the Nation's Children
On July 1, I testified at a congressional hearing regarding the importance of the U.S. Department of Agriculture standards that ensure progress toward healthier school food for all children. The hearing was held in response to a House Appropriations Bill approved in May that, if adopted, would provide 12-month waivers to schools that are having trouble meeting all the guidelines.
And while a temporary waiver may seem like a small bump on the road to healthy school food, it is a real cause for concern; many experts who have worked hard to pave the way to properly nourished children see it as the first step towards dismantling the entire Child Nutrition Act.
The Child Nutrition Act is a law signed in 1966 to meet the daily nutritional needs of millions of children. Every five years, the law must be reauthorized in its entirety. The most recent reauthorization was in 2010: the Healthy Hunger Free Kids Act. In 2015, Congress will once again examine the parameters of the law and determine its iteration for the next five years.
[Read: House Panel: Schools Can Opt Out of Nutrition Requirements .]
Up until recently, proponents of healthy school food were confident that the HHFKA would be reauthorized in a way that would build on the current strides toward healthier school food. However, the recent lobbying efforts and actions in the House have eroded that confidence. The political cracks are showing, and everything the HHFKA accomplished could be rolled backed. We could return to an era of pizza and nachos and french fries and popsicles as standard daily fare for a generation of children who are struggling with obesity and other diet-related diseases.
Representative Robert Aderholt chairs the House Appropriations Committee that approved the waiver. When asked if House Republicans intend to eliminate school food nutrition standards at the committee meeting in May, he replied, "Not in this bill," which was greeted by laughter from other lawmakers. "There are movements out there that would like to change it ... but this does not do that."
His response has prepared school food proponents for a fight. As a nation, we simply cannot afford to lose the ground we've gained for our children's health. At the congressional hearing, it was heartening to hear so many voices communicate to our lawmakers, asking them to hold the line for children's nutrition.
[Read: Congress' Attempt to Weaken School Nutrition Programs .]
The School Nutrition Association, which lobbied for the waiver, is a dissenting voice in the debate, despite a large contingent of members and 19 past presidents who support the USDA standards and ask that the waiver not be approved. I know that the SNA wants what we all want in the long run: healthy, nutritious meals for all students. Where we disagree is how to get there.
Yet this in-fighting among school food advocates is the crack that will eventually split apart the foundation of the HHFKA, and the processed food-funded lobby will use the opportunity to destroy it. Unless we can work together to support the HHFKA and the USDA's progress in enacting it, we might lose it all.
Last week, the United States celebrated everything that makes this country great. All across the country families and friends shared delicious meals to commemorate our independence. As I think about that, I also think about how not one single lawmaker in Congress and not one single corporate lobbyist in Washington worries about feeding their children healthy food.
[Read: Is the Fox Guarding the Hen House? Big Business in School Food .]
This country is only as strong as its most vulnerable citizens, and we can do something to nurture more than 30 million of them every day. Congress needs to make the right decisions for the health of our children. We need to make sure they do!
Chef Ann Cooper is a celebrated author, chef, educator and enduring advocate for better food for all children. A graduate of the Culinary Institute of America, Ann has been a chef for more than 30 years, over 15 of those in school food programs. Her books, Bitter Harvest and Lunch Lessons: Changing the Way We Feed Our Children, established her as a leading advocate for safe, sustainable food. Known as the Renegade Lunch Lady, Ann has been honored by The National Resources Defense Council, selected as a Kellogg Food and Society Policy Fellow and awarded an honorary doctorate from SUNY Cobleskill for her work on sustainable agriculture. In 2009, Ann founded Food Family Farming Foundation (F3), a nonprofit focusing on solutions to the school food crisis. F3's pivotal project is The Lunch Box, a web portal that provides free and accessible tools, recipes and resources to support school food reform.
