the bill requires school districts to be audited every
three years.
The new meal standards require schools to offer
daily servings of vegetables, fruits, grains, meat or
meat alternatives, and milk. This action was met by
exceptional civic response; the USDA received over
130,000 public comments from nutrition, health, and
child advocates, community organizations, school
districts/boards, food industries, parents, students, and
many other interested groups and individuals.
“Children should eat fresh fruit, fresh vegetables,
whole grain, healthy protein,” said one “renegade
lunch lady” Ann Cooper, known simply as Chef Ann,
Director of Food Services for Boulder Valley Schools
in Colorado. “Under the USDA guidelines, it says they
should be eating those things. Hungry children can’t
think, malnourished children can’t learn,” she says.
All the same, the USDA does not put limitations on
added sugar. The 2012 Federal Register states that a
standard would “unnecessarily restrict menu planning
flexibility.” High fructose corn syrup, a sweetener that
has been hotly debated for its possible role in the obesity
epidemic, can occasionally hide in some flavored milk or
syrupy canned fruits. The USDA does, however, place
a cap on total calories allowed per child. If schools
choose to supply those calories using cheap, processed
foods, it’s permitted.
Some critics say children will refuse nutritious food
if their beloved nachos and cheese sticks are available
right there beside them. If our number one priority
is making sure they at least get fed, should schools just
“give them what they want” and be done with the whole
ordeal?
Pretlow said that if 6