Donald Trump's administration proposed new school lunch guidelines Friday that would undo several changes made by Michelle Obama to get more fruit and veggies on the menu: a move that comes on the former first lady's birthday. The Department of Agriculture, which oversees the Food and Nutrition Service, said it is proposing new rules 'to simplify meal service and reduce food waste.' That would include 'increasing flexibility in the “vegetable subgroups” requirements for school lunches.' But the changes would allow schools to cut the amount of vegetables and fruits required at lunch and breakfasts while giving them the ability to offer more pizza, burgers and fries instead. It would also undo rules championed by Michelle Obama as part of her Let's Move initiative and The Healthy, Hunger Free Kids Act of 2010. Friday is the former first lady's 56th birthday. Michelle Obama made healthy eating a signature issue during her time in the White House. 'I am determined to work with folks across this country to change the way a generation of kids thinks about food and nutrition,' she said. Trump, however, is known for his love of fast food. He often ate McDonalds or Kentucky Fried Chicken on the campaign trail. The changes had been sought by food manufacturers and some school districts that were frustrated with the higher food costs that come at providing more fruits and vegetables. The USDA defended the proposed rules, arguing they would reduce food waste. 'Schools and school districts continue to tell us that there is still too much food waste and that more common-sense flexibility is needed to provide students nutritious and appetizing meals,' Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue said in a statement. 'We listened and now we’re getting to work.' https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...-birthday.html
Schools cannot have fresh fruits and vegetables because they throw away 1/3 of it due to spoilage. they don't have proper kitchens to store and serve healthy foods. With microwave and large scale heat up ovens they can easily dish out tons of pizza, burgers, chicken nuggets and that fake ass salisbury steak with sides of diabetes, heart disease and obesity. In public schools healthy food just will not work in most cases but they can find a happy medium versus just serving pizza, burgers and chicken nuggets. That being said I still think the bad food at school can be countered easily by what kids eat at home on nights and weekends and for breakfast. Most only eat lunch at school and that is 5 meals out of an entire week. But most parents serve their kids regularly food far worse than what schools feed them.
Other point.....having the USDA and their lobbyists in charge of food and diet recommendations is the biggest fraud of government power over the entire population.
Especially in regard to the EBT/food stamp program. A good case can always be made for subsidizing true food for the poor. But there is no good reason to subsidize all the zero nutrition sodas, doritos, milk duds, etc, etc, etc. other than lobbying pressure. And as with hiring illegals, I dont want to go round and round on the republican participation/collusion in this. Just stop it where the root cause is. And then there those argue that you are "dictating" food choices for others. No. Only what the public is paying for. You want beer and milk duds for dinner, go for it. Just put *your* money down and pay for it and all is well.
The USDA lobbyists are based in agriculture and pushed the "Sugar is not unhealthy" and "Fats" are the enemy that has lead to so much preventable metabolic disease. There is nothing wrong with dictating healthy food choices to people when they are in the public trust (i.e. schools). And you are wrong to say you have no interest in guiding people to eat healthier in their homes if they are paying for the food. You are paying for all the medical costs that accumulate from these fat son of a bitches and the drain they put on the healthcare system for diseases they caused themselves through unhealthy lifestyles. I think the correct statement is: You want to eat milk duds and beer for dinner every night, then not only should you pay for the food but you should pay 100% for your medical costs and leave the rest of us out of it.
Then it behooves us to push for proper storage space and replace those large scale microwaves in cafeterias. Shit food has no place if the tax payer is footing the bill. If the kids don't want to eat what is offered because they're pampered, then tough titties. The lunch is offered as a supplement to low income households, the kids either drain their low income parent's wallets to buy shit food, or they eat a proper meal at school. They're there to get an education, if they're not getting educated on proper nutrition at home, then fuck it, the school's gotta do the extra parenting. Re-educating fatties takes a while, so I don't expect miracles of reduced waste overnight. basically this. Also, inb4 pseudo libertarians say how you can't mandate what people eat when we're footing the bill. Inb4 red hats defend coronary disease on tax payer's dime.
An actual reading of what I wrote will show that I did not say that. My comments were in regard to the EBT program and I was rejecting arguments that arise which say that eliminating junk food from the program is dictating what people eat. It does not. It would only specify what is eligible under the program, but otherwise you can purchase what you want. Programs to "guide" (your word) what people eat, smoke, and drink and may or may not be desirable but do not need to mixed in with the EBT issue which should have been taken care of long ago.
Yeah, because the food we were served in the cafeteria of our schools when we went to school was so healthy and wholesome. And there were almost no fat kids back then.