Government

Move Over Michelle: Congress Fighting for Pizza & French Fries in School Lunch Line

WASHINGTON (The Blaze/AP) – In an effort many 9-year-olds will cheer, Congress wants pizza and french fries to stay on school lunch lines and is fighting the Obama administration’s efforts to take what are considered by some as unhealthy foods out of schools.

Congres Fights Obama Administration to Keep Pizza and Potatoes School MenuesThe final version of a spending bill released late Monday would unravel school lunch standards the Agriculture Department proposed earlier this year. These include limiting the use of potatoes on the lunch line, putting new restrictions on sodium and boosting the use of whole grains. The legislation would block or delay all of those efforts.

Specifically, the bill would:

  • Block the Agriculture Department from limiting starchy vegetables, including corn and peas, to two servings a week. The rule was intended to cut down on french fries, which many schools serve daily.
  • Allow USDA to count two tablespoons of tomato paste as a vegetable, as it does now. Federally subsidized lunches must have a certain number of vegetables to be served.
  • Require further study on long-term sodium reduction requirements set forth by the USDA guidelines.
  • Require USDA to define “whole grains” before they regulate them. The USDA rules require schools to use more whole grains.

Food companies who have fought the USDA standards say they were too strict and neglected the nutrients that potatoes, other starchy vegetables and tomato paste do offer.

“This agreement ensures that nutrient-rich vegetables such as potatoes, corn and peas will remain part of a balanced, healthy diet in federally funded school meals and recognizes the significant amounts of potassium, fiber and vitamins A and C provided by tomato paste, ensuring that students may continue to enjoy healthy meals such as pizza and pasta,” said Kraig Naasz, president of the American Frozen Food Institute.

This means that the tomato paste on pizzas could be counted as a vegetable, as it is now. USDA had wanted to only count a half-cup of tomato paste or more as a vegetable, and a serving of pizza has less than that.

Nutritionists say the whole effort is reminiscent of the Reagan administration’s much-ridiculed attempt 30 years ago to classify ketchup as a vegetable to cut costs. This time around, food companies that produce frozen pizzas for schools, the salt industry and potato growers requested the changes and lobbied Congress.

School meals that are subsidized by the federal government must include a certain amount of vegetables, and USDA’s proposal could have pushed pizza-makers and potato growers out of the school lunch business.

Piling on to the companies’ opposition, some conservatives argue that the federal government shouldn’t tell children what to eat. In a summary of the bill, Republicans on the House Appropriations Committee said the changes would “prevent overly burdensome and costly regulations and …provide greater flexibility for local school districts to improve the nutritional quality of meals.”

School districts have said some of the USDA proposals go too far and cost too much when budgets are extremely tight. Schools have long taken broad instructions from the government on what they can serve in the federally subsidized meals that are given free or at reduced price to low-income children. But some schools have balked at government attempts to tell them exactly what foods they can’t serve.

Reacting to that criticism, House Republicans had urged USDA to rewrite the standards in a bill passed in June. The Senate last month voted to block the potato limits in its version, with opposition to the restrictions led by potato-growing states. Neither version of the bill included the latest provisions on tomato paste, sodium or whole grains; House and Senate negotiators added those in the last two weeks as they put finishing touches on the legislation.

The school lunch proposal is based on 2009 recommendations by the Institute of Medicine, the health arm of the National Academy of Sciences. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said they are necessary to reduce childhood obesity and future health care costs.

USDA spokeswoman Courtney Rowe said Tuesday that the department will continue its efforts to make lunches healthier.

“While it‘s unfortunate that some members of Congress continue to put special interests ahead of the health of America’s children, USDA remains committed to practical, science-based standards for school meals,” she said in a statement.

Nutrition advocate Margo Wootan of the Center for Science in the Public Interest said Congress’s proposed changes will keep schools from serving a wider array of vegetables. Children already get enough pizza and potatoes, she says. It also would slow efforts to make pizzas — a longtime standby on school lunch lines — healthier, with whole grain crusts and lower sodium levels.

“They are making sure that two of the biggest problems in the school lunch program, pizza and french fries, are untouched,” she said.

Earlier this fall both the potato industry and the Senate backed leaving potatoes alone in schools.

Congres Fights Obama Administration to Keep Pizza and Potatoes School Menues

A group of retired generals advocating for healthier school lunches also criticized the spending bill. The group, called Mission: Readiness, has called poor nutrition in school lunches a national security issue because obesity is the leading medical disqualifier for military service.

“We are outraged that Congress is seriously considering language that would effectively categorize pizza as a vegetable in the school lunch program,” Amy Dawson Taggart, the director of the group, said in a letter to lawmakers before the final bill was released. “It doesn’t take an advanced degree in nutrition to call this a national disgrace.”

The school lunch provisions are part of a final House-Senate compromise on a $182 billion measure that would fund the day-to-day operations of the departments of Agriculture, Commerce, Justice, Transportation and Housing and Urban Development. Both the House and the Senate are expected to vote on the bill this week and send it to President Barack Obama.

Comments (44)

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  • bernbart
    Posted on November 16, 2011 at 6:05pm

    I guess the right winger in congress want us to continue to feed school children unhealthy and fattening food, so we have a nation of fat slobs food, who impact the medical system in the future with diabetis and heart trouble. It is very sad that the hatred for President & Michele Obama by the right out ways the concern for children’s health. It is even more disgusting those who cheer on bad food. People in the U.S. are to FAT

    Report Post »  
    • Cherylcact
      Posted on November 19, 2011 at 1:36pm

      I work at a school. The healthy food goes immediately into the trash, while the pizza and french fries are eaten. What’s your goal? To feed them or to spend tax money on food that will be thrown away? The kitchen staff forces the kids to take four items, knowing the ones that get added on are thrown away. Then we’re told not to let the kids give each other food. The whole system is crazy and I’m constantly angry that my hard-earned tax dollars are being wasted this way. Give kids what they will eat and stop feeding the dumpsters and say you’re saving the kids by giving them healthy food.

      Report Post »  
    • ProudVet05-11
      Posted on November 19, 2011 at 1:59pm

      I think it is awesome that we have a First Lady who can tell me what my 15 month old daughter’s 3rd grade lunch menu will be, while her husband and his cabinet sit around have ******* contest, shake hands with terrorists, and constantly try to cut veterans benefits and active duty- My 15 month year old daughter may have a healthy school menu waiting for her 5 years from now, but this week her father who has been out of the Marine Corps for four months, and can‘t get a job because he’s not “decompressed” can’t afford her food for the week. Way to go Obama’s “YES YOU DID….SCREW US”

      Report Post »  
  • Restored One
    Posted on November 16, 2011 at 4:12pm

    My neices school told her parents that they would not let their daughter get hot lunch anymore because she was throwing too much away (she paid for monthly tickets-full price). Gee can you get a hint.

    Report Post »  
  • krmike
    Posted on November 16, 2011 at 3:03pm

    That fat a** will find a way to stop it !! There will be less for her to eat if they do that !! After all she has to maintain that “HIPPO” rear end that she has !!!!!

    Report Post »  
  • SerikFox
    Posted on November 16, 2011 at 2:11pm

    Thank the lord. I was at a public school while they were first implementing the “health changes” and they made the food disgusting. Everyone used to eat the lunches; after they made their changes almost half of the students only ate certain parts and threw the rest away. You can’t burden a small school with the task of getting healthier products at the same price and expect any of it to taste decent. The once wonderful rolls – so bad that I actually didn’t know anyone who liked them past that point. They destroyed everyone’s favorite lunches. Pizza in lunches is just awesomeness. As Cain said, “deep dish”.

    Report Post »  
  • country_hick
    Posted on November 16, 2011 at 12:31pm

    Letter sent to my Congresscritters. Feel free to copy it to send to yours!

    The Federal government is dictating, through the USDA, the content of school lunches. They are telling the schools what kinds of foods to serve, what vegetables are allowed, how they are spiced, how they are cooked and numerous other things.

    All this is in the name of ‘protecting’ the health of kids.

    I have yet to see the results of any Federal study that shows how much and which foods are thrown out every day by students that will not eat what is served.

    I am requesting the results of any studies that show a DETAILED analysis of school lunch room food trashed each day next to the menu for that day. When I say ‘detailed’ I mean detailed. I am requesting a sorted amount of each item offered AND how much of it was prepared. Example – one item on the menu is stewed tomatoes. 200 pounds was prepared and served. 170 pounds was found in the trash.

    I am sure that numerous studies of this type have been completed by the USDA to justify the changes and show that the food is not being wasted and that such requirements are cost effective. With the National economy in such a state of disrepair and the fact that millions worldwide are starving I would hate to think that both money and precious food is being trashed.

    As I am sure that the studies are readily available I am requesting copies of them by 12.20.11.

    Thank you for your time in this matter.

    Report Post »  
    • Cherylcact
      Posted on November 19, 2011 at 1:39pm

      Ask specifically about pears. At our school they have whole pears probably once a week, sometimes more. I have never seen a single child eat a pear. They go straight into the trash. If a teacher is seen eating a pear that wasn’t bought, meaning if we take the pears instead of letting the children throw them away, we’re in big trouble!

      Report Post »  
  • grandmaclown
    Posted on November 16, 2011 at 11:14am

    My grandsons are in third grade, and I usually eat lunch with them once a week. Last week they were served pizza with a squash topping. They weren’t too thrilled. However, they did eat most of it because they didn’t want the carrots or the mixed vegetables; and I try to get them to eat most of their lunch when I eat with them. They did eat the orange. I told them to thank Michelle Obama, and that it was only going to get worse. I can imagine how much goes in the garbage when I’m not there. Most of the kids at their school are on free lunches, and I see weekly how much food is thrown away. Many of the kids won’t even eat the bananas or the apples. They also serve free breakfast for all children regardless of income.
    Do the “great” minds in DC realize it’s not only what you eat but how much exercise you get. When I went to school many, many years ago, we had recess and an hour lunch where we were able to jump rope, play hide-and-seek which requires running, played all kinds of ball, and ate our home packed lunches. Gosh how did we ever survive without all the government intervention?

    Report Post »  
    • bernbart
      Posted on November 16, 2011 at 6:12pm

      Very sad that you rather have you kids eat bad food rather than encourage them to eat fruits and vegetables, and you are a very irresponsible parent to be teaching your children to disrespect the president’s wife. You should be thankful she cares about our children’s health and future.
      The AMA has is reporting a sharp rise in Type 2 diabetis among children and young adults, and it is from a fatty diet.

      Report Post »  
    • Cherylcact
      Posted on November 19, 2011 at 1:41pm

      The AMA has is reporting a sharp rise in Type 2 diabetis among children and young adults, and it is from a fatty diet.

      Is it from a fatty diet, or is it from high fructose corn syrup in every single thing we eat now?

      Report Post »  
  • TeaPartyGoth97
    Posted on November 16, 2011 at 11:11am

    We still get good food at our school.
    Louisiana wasn’t one of the best fighting forces in the civil war for no reason.
    We fight for what we want. Although, fighting for slavery probably wasn’t the best example.

    Report Post » TeaPartyGoth97  
  • MrKnowItAll
    Posted on November 16, 2011 at 11:10am

    Buy my $29.99 100% Guaranteed Diet Plan. I’ll give you ten times your money back if it does not work. Today I give it away for free. Want to lose Weight? STOP eating so F___ing Much!

    Report Post » MrKnowItAll  
  • PPMStudios
    Posted on November 16, 2011 at 8:38am

    Big Brother strikes again! Technically though, isn’t a tomato actually a fruit?

    Report Post » PPMStudios  
    • McNamara
      Posted on November 16, 2011 at 10:12am

      Correct. Tomatoes are a fruit, since they come off of a vine. you can pile the vegetables on a kids plate and they will still not eat them. 85% I bet would end up in the garbage. Pizza has all the 5 food groups on them. Pizza once a week is not going to hurt these kids. Use lowfat stuff. They will not know the difference.

      Report Post » McNamara  
    • smithclar3nc3
      Posted on November 16, 2011 at 10:33am

      How about the Government get the he77 out of our citizens lives. Before the citizens start getting in their’s.

      Report Post »  
  • MiCurmudgeon
    Posted on November 16, 2011 at 8:22am

    What the heck is the Federal Government getting involved in what we feed our children ? Get us out of debt and restore an environment where jobs are created and we might have enough money to buy some fruits and vegetables, assuming they don’t take any gains away with more taxes.

    Report Post »  
  • TheePolitinator
    Posted on November 16, 2011 at 8:02am

    Call it what it actually is, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eugenics

    Report Post » TheePolitinator  
  • raderby
    Posted on November 16, 2011 at 8:01am

    mainly, get the damn gov’t out of our schools. “Nutritionists”? They change opinions yearly as what is “healthy” according to them. PARENTS DECIDE. Dump the USDA, dump the fed money for food, since LOOK:

    MY tax money goes to pay some jerk in DC to “study” healthy eating, and they get paid, likely, more than I make. Then they send (my) money to my local school and force them to sell food cheaper than it costs, but the food must be whatever the feds want it to be. WHY DON’T I just give my kid more money to buy what my kid and I decide is good, or, I pack a lunch of my food I prepare for my kid? That’s direct payments, much more efficient. Each step of passing money around via taxation and regulation is a lossy method. (and grows gov’t + gov’t control) I could have my kid buy steak and arugula at school with my money and still come out ahead compared to all the local and fed waste and salaries, – in fact, local schools could make a small profit for their local school’s coffersl if they sell tasty, healthy, GOOD food that kids will actually eat. SELL WITH A PROFIT. I still come out ahead, if the DAMN tax money for all this junk is left in my pocket.

    BTW::: Have you ever seen how much waste there is at schools? How much goes uneaten? GET THE DAMN FEDS OUT OF OUR LIVES.

    Report Post » raderby  
  • raderby
    Posted on November 16, 2011 at 7:48am

    1. The federal gov’t has ZERO right to control food in schools, let alone the curriculum.
    2. Tomato is a fruit.
    3. Does steak and arugula make my butt look big?
    4. socialism takes the children away to indoctrinate to forge a better society.
    5. remove the dept. of education in DC
    6. curtail the USDA and FDA powers to stop this insanity.
    7. NO more subsidized school food. This is how the feds get their busybody hooks into the local level gov’t.

    Report Post » raderby  
  • 8fishpimp8
    Posted on November 16, 2011 at 5:42am

    Two issues, for any of you that care to try, make your own tomato paste. You will probably be as surprised as I was about the reduction. I will wager that the tomato paste in one slice of pizza is equal to the content of one whole tomato, a big one.

    Second, we in the USA have the fattest poor people in the world, maybe the fattest poor people that have ever lived, in the whole of history….think about it.

    So I will take it upon myself to start throwing away healthier food…Bon Apatite, urban outdoors-man.

    Report Post » 8fishpimp8  
    • Jackers
      Posted on November 16, 2011 at 6:57am

      This is nothing to do with fresh salads or french fries… This is all about government control.

      Just as we have the right to freedom of speech, we should have the right to freedom of choice. Let parents decide what is best for their children and teach children accordingly.

      Report Post » Jackers  
    • 8fishpimp8
      Posted on November 16, 2011 at 8:34am

      Jackers:

      You are quite correct, it is about government control. Furthermore there is no constitutional role for the Federal Government in the field of education.

      I had a hippie teacher tell me that the reason she didn’t let my five year old have the yogurt I packed in his lunch, was because it was not in a reusable container.

      I inquired if they would feel better if I threw the yogurt cup away at my house rather than having my son do it at school.

      I had fun with it for a moment and then got a little angry. I told the teacher that in the future she was to feed my son whatever I packed and we would discuss the details later.

      Despite the fact that I was communicating in her mother tongue, she still wasn’t clear.

      “IF I PACK MY SON A !#$^!^!$ SPOTTED OWL SANDWICH YOU ARE TO FEED IT OUT”

      We had no further issues with the lunch box.

      Report Post » 8fishpimp8  
  • louise
    Posted on November 16, 2011 at 5:20am

    I grew up in the 50‘s and 60’s. I remember packing a peanut butter sandwich and an apple for lunch. If I bought lunch at school, there was only one choice /milk. If you didn’t like it, you went hungry.

    Today, school cafeterias and the choices they have look like a restaurant…especially the high schools.

    Report Post » louise  
  • ghostsouls
    Posted on November 16, 2011 at 2:30am

    The whole concept of the school breakfast and lunch program was to provide children with meals they would probably not be getting at home for many different reasons. I am not saying feed the children cake, ice cream candy and soda, but feeding them things they will not eat, and just throw away, is not only a waste of time, and money, the children are going hungry anyway. So, while Michelle pigs out on fat cakes, french fries, chicken wings and bbq, the nations children will go hungry once again, because of political correctness. Instead of just mandating throwing some veggies on a plate, why not have people experiment with new recipes to make healthier food for children that they will actually eat? Why not hold a nationwide contest for recipes, mom’s that cook (and dad’s and grand parents) know how to make food children do not like to eat, tasty. We have Food Network TV, put them to the task to make a healthy, edible and tasty menu that children will actually eat and not throw away. My mom works at an elementary school. Every day, hundreds of plates go in the trash, untouched, and only one item taken off the tray, rest thrown in the trash, can’t even salvage it for a homeless shelter, what a huge waste. They can’t force them to eat it, so why force it on their plates if they are not going to eat it, that is not cost effective? Just more of the obama’s wasting our tax payer dollars. So, good job michelle, the nation’s poorest, and neediest are still going hungry, be pro

    Report Post » ghostsouls  
  • Cosmos102
    Posted on November 16, 2011 at 1:59am

    I grew up in a neighborhood that bordered our Elementary School. We played on school play grounds and ball fields as if they were our own back yards. I remember seeing the delivery trucks back up to the loading docks behind the cafeteria and dropping of pallets of vegetables for the next day lunches. There were actual vegetables in those crates. I remember cabbages and potatoes. Our school lunches, and this was in the late 60‘s and early 70’s…consisted of fresh vegetables and even freshly baked bread and rolls. Sounds like a dream, right? Wrong. I never ate it. I shunned the vegetables on my plate, like most kids…and by Liberal’s standards, this was gourmet cooking. Not the processed stuff they serve kids today. We wanted the pizza, hamburgers and fries that cafeterias finally started serving by the late 70′s in my State. We thought we had won the battle! On the days they didn’t serve this kind of fare, I went hungry, or caught a ride with my friends to McDonalds to eat. What Moochelle Obama is proposing won’t work by any stretch of the imagination. Kids are simply picky eaters and only eat what they like and recognize, which in this country has become what we consider junk foods. You can’t simply teach a child to eat stewed cabbage or pinto beans. It won’t work. So you have 2 choices: Throw a bunch of uneaten food away, OR, feed them what they want. Parents’ jobs are to feed their children a healthy diet and teach them what to eat. Not SCHOO

    Report Post » Cosmos102  
    • decendentof56
      Posted on November 16, 2011 at 6:38am

      Cosmos….
      See my reply to Urbancombatsurvivor. To be clear, let me add………

      This government will, guaranteed, start to control what you eat by taxing certain foods as “unhealthy”. You can place your bets on that one right now. Does any clear-thinking person really think that this government will not say, at some time, that if you eat snack foods, you will not be adding to the costs of healthcare costs?

      It will be done “progressively”, just as radical/fanatical ‘environmentalists’ have closed off-road riding areas by the millions of acres. Everyone needs to lobby to repeal Obamacare.

      Report Post »  
    • raderby
      Posted on November 16, 2011 at 8:06am

      busybody progs can never leave anything alone. In fact, the pass-the-money-around garbage is their idea of commerce. The waste is something they don’t figure in, because they do not understand people, or life in general, even they they are the ones who scream loudly how much they care.
      Lib/Prog/Commie = insane. no easier explanation than this.

      Report Post » raderby  
  • aicardi
    Posted on November 16, 2011 at 1:57am

    While it is true that french fries and pizza are not actually healthy foods we have to remember that the point of school lunch is to help low income kids . There is no point in having healthy food they won’t eat. Heck, I would much rather have a kid have unhealthy food and a full stomach over a a healthy lunch that ends up in the trash.

    Report Post »  
  • UrbanCombatSurvivor
    Posted on November 16, 2011 at 1:44am

    Why doesn’t this article ask why the hell the federal government is providing meals in the first damn place????

    Report Post »  
    • decendentof56
      Posted on November 16, 2011 at 6:22am

      Urban……….
      I always ask that question, too. The costs to tax-payers is enormous!
      Parents cannot give their kids a bowl of cereal in the morning, or pack a sandwich for lunch?

      AND, anyway, is anyone dumb enough to think kids can’t get junk food at home? What will the Gov. do to prevent that???

      Well, friends, I’ll tell you. The next step is to control (through taxes or costs-controls) what you can buy at THE GROCERY STORE! Could not an over-reaching gov. just place a tax on any type of snack food by using the justification that snack foods cause healthcare costs to be higher? I mean, its all for the common good. Right? Aren’t we all in this together?

      I’m saying, today, that you will witness the tenacles of the Fed. Gov. start to dictate how and what you eat on an incremental basis if this healthcare law is not totally repealed. That is not just a prediction, but a guarantee!

      Report Post »  
  • johjoh
    Posted on November 16, 2011 at 12:54am

    We should eat what the HELL WE WONT TO EAT.

    Report Post » johjoh  
  • whatthecrazy
    Posted on November 16, 2011 at 12:46am

    My son is totally bummed that he no longer can get french fries in high school,thanks moochele for getting into everybodys buisness after all you know better than every body else what is best for them dont cha,I mean my gosh what the crap did we do before your specialness showed up…………….

    Report Post »  
  • SandyfromChesterfield
    Posted on November 16, 2011 at 12:16am

    The easiest way to keep the government from telling the schools what to serve for lunch is to not take money for subsidized lunches. Bingo!

    Report Post »  
  • netmail
    Posted on November 16, 2011 at 12:14am

    It’s kind of a touchy issue, but if our economy wasn’t so trashed due to govt policies, more money could be spent on research to make healthy foods taste more like foods we really desire. Now, kids will be lucky to get two pieces of white bread and a cup of water in their reuseable, styro-foam cup for lunch. If all people can afford are giant boxes of Crap-o-puffs to feed their kids, that’s what they are going to buy. It’s more about money than quality of food and health issues.

    Report Post »  
  • LeadNotFollow
    Posted on November 15, 2011 at 11:25pm

    Pizza and french fries. Two of my favorite foods.

    Report Post »  
  • lylejk
    Posted on November 15, 2011 at 11:15pm

    I still remember that my favorite School lunch meal was a rectangular slice of pizza with salad and Ranch dressing. I would dip my pizza in Ranch dressing after I first ate my salad. I still sometimes dip pizza in Ranch dressing. Anyway, what’s wrong with Pizza. Bread, vegetables, and Cheeze; all the main food groups covered. We have idiots now running our government telling us what to do and worse, what to eat. Tired of these mrons telling me what to do. Yes, I get Pizza and happen to agree with Herman Cain that vegetable pizzas are for wooses. lol

    ‘Nough said. :)

    Report Post » lylejk  
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