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August 27, 2012
School Lunch Changes Leaving Kids Hungry
For more information on Newsline, contact: Johnna Miller, Director of Media Development, American Farm Bureau Federation johnnam@fb.org
How well will a kid do in school if all they’re thinking about is their growling stomach? AFBF Farm Policy Specialist Kelli Ludlum says new standards for the school lunch program are making that a concern for students and parents. AFBF’s Johnna Miller has the story.
| Moore: | With the start of the new school year, there’s concern some kids may be feeling hunger pains due to the first changes to the National School Lunch Program in 15 years. |
| Ludlum: | There are new maximum requirements for the amount of protein and overall calorie content of school lunches. There have always been minimum requirements for calories, protein and other nutrients, but now there are maximums as well and it appears that those maximums, while potentially looking good on paper, really aren’t meeting the needs of particularly junior high and high school students that have a higher caloric requirement, especially for those that are active in after school sports. |
| Miller: | American Farm Bureau Farm Program Specialist Kelli Ludlum says the changes are part of the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act, which Congress passed two years ago. She says there are positive aspects of the standards, like offering more fresh fruits and vegetables and reducing saturated fat, trans fats and sodium. |
| Ludlum: | The effort was actually well-intentioned. There was a real concern about the growing problem of childhood obesity and type 2 diabetes. So in an effort to solve that problem Congress instructed the U.S. Department of Agriculture to look at childhood obesity and try to address that problem through the school lunch program. The problem is that in trying to solve childhood obesity for some you actually starve some of the more active children, particularly those at the higher age groups. |
| Miller: | Ludlum says she won’t be surprised if USDA takes another look at the new standards, because many parents are complaining that the school lunches are leaving their kids hungry. |
| Ludlum: | I’ve heard stories from friends and coworkers about having to pack al lunch for their child in addition to the school lunch. These are especially important for young people that are active in after school sports that just aren’t having their caloric needs met for, not only a long afternoon of classes, but possibly a couple of hours of sports practice on top of that. |
| Miller: | Johnna Miller, Washington. |
| Miller: | We have two extra actualities with AFBF Farm Policy Specialist Kelli Ludlum. In the first extra actuality she talks about the inflexibility of the new school lunch standards. The cut runs 22 seconds, in 3-2-1. |
| Ludlum: | The requirements for protein are slightly less than what USDA is recommending in its overall nutritional guidelines, but it appears that the real problem here is that there’s not flexibility to provide fewer or greater calories depending on their age, their body weight, their level of activity and those external factors are very important in determining nutritional needs. |
| Miller: | In the second extra actuality Ludlum talks about positive aspects of the new standards. The cut runs 18 seconds, in 3-2-1. |
| Ludlum: | Some of the good things about the new law and the way that USDA has implemented it, is that it does increase the requirements for fresh fruits and vegetables which we know supplies more nutrients to students and so there are some good parts of the law. It’s just that the ‘one size fits all’ approach is not really working in practicality. |
| Miller: | Newsline is updated Mondays and Thursdays by 5pm Eastern time. Thank you for listening. |