[Congressional Bills 111th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 934 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
111th CONGRESS
1st Session
S. 934
To amend the Child Nutrition Act of 1966 to improve the nutrition and
health of schoolchildren and protect the Federal investment in the
national school lunch and breakfast programs by updating the national
school nutrition standards for foods and beverages sold outside of
school meals to conform to current nutrition science.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
April 30, 2009
Mr. Harkin (for himself, Ms. Murkowski, Mr. Conrad, Mr. Bennet, Mr.
Casey, Mr. Leahy, Ms. Klobuchar, Mrs. Gillibrand, and Mr. Brown)
introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the
Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To amend the Child Nutrition Act of 1966 to improve the nutrition and
health of schoolchildren and protect the Federal investment in the
national school lunch and breakfast programs by updating the national
school nutrition standards for foods and beverages sold outside of
school meals to conform to current nutrition science.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Child Nutrition Promotion and School
Lunch Protection Act of 2009''.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress finds that--
(1) for a school food service program to receive Federal
reimbursements under the Child Nutrition Act of 1966 (42 U.S.C.
1771 et seq.) or the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch
Act (42 U.S.C. 1751 et seq.), school meals served by the
program must meet science-based nutrition standards established
by Congress and the Secretary of Agriculture;
(2) foods sold outside the reimbursable school meal
programs (including food and beverages sold in vending
machines, a la carte in cafeterias, school stores, and snack
bars) are not required to meet comparable nutritional
standards;
(3) in order to promote child nutrition and health,
Congress--
(A) has authorized the Secretary to establish
nutrition standards in the school lunchroom during meal
time; and
(B) since 1979, has prohibited the sale of food of
minimal nutritional value, as defined by the Secretary,
in areas where school meals are sold or eaten;
(4) federally reimbursed school meals and child nutrition
and health are undermined by the uneven authority of the
Secretary to apply nutrition standards throughout the school
campus and over the course of the school day;
(5) as of the date of enactment of this Act, the definition
of the term ``food of minimal nutritional value'' is the
national nutrition standard for foods sold outside of school
meals;
(6) since 1979, when the Secretary defined the term ``food
of minimal nutritional value'' and promulgated regulations for
the sale of those foods during meal times, nutrition science
has evolved and expanded;
(7) because some children purchase foods other than
balanced meals provided through the school lunch program
established under the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch
Act (42 U.S.C. 1751 et seq.) and the school breakfast program
established by section 4 of the Child Nutrition Act of 1966 (42
U.S.C. 1773), the efforts of parents to ensure that their
children consume healthful diets are undermined;
(8) experts in nutrition science have found that--
(A) since the 1970s, obesity rates have tripled
among children ages 6 to 19;
(B) children's sodium intake is 214 percent above
recommended levels;
(C) 85 percent of children consume more saturated
fat than is recommended in the most recent Dietary
Guidelines for Americans published under section 301 of
the National Nutrition Monitoring and Related Research
Act of 1990 (7 U.S.C. 5341);
(D) over \2/3\ of all foods consumed by
schoolchildren are foods that are recommended for
occasional intake;
(E) type 2 diabetes, which is primarily due to poor
diet and physical inactivity, is rising in children;
and
(F) \1/4\ of children ages 5 to 10 show early
warning signs of heart disease, such as elevated blood
cholesterol or high blood pressure;
(9) in 1996, children aged 2 to 18 years consumed an
average of 118 more calories per day than children did in 1978,
which is the equivalent of 12 pounds of weight gain annually,
if not compensated for through increased physical activity; and
(10) the national estimated cost of obesity is
$123,000,000,000 a year, \1/2\ of which is paid through the
Medicare program under title XVIII of the Social Security Act
(42 U.S.C. 1395 et seq.) and the Medicaid program under title
XIX of that Act (42 U.S.C. 1396 et seq.).
SEC. 3. NATIONAL SCHOOL NUTRITION STANDARDS.
Section 10 of the Child Nutrition Act of 1966 (42 U.S.C. 1779) is
amended--
(1) by striking the section heading and all that follows
through ``(a) The Secretary'' and inserting the following:
``SEC. 10. REGULATIONS.
``(a) In General.--The Secretary''; and
(2) by striking subsections (b) and (c) and inserting the
following:
``(b) National School Nutrition Standards.--
``(1) Proposed regulations.--
``(A) In general.--The Secretary shall--
``(i) establish science-based nutrition
standards for foods served in schools other
than foods provided under this Act and the
Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act
(42 U.S.C. 1751 et seq.); and
``(ii) not later than 1 year after the date
of enactment of this paragraph, promulgate
proposed regulations to carry out clause (i).
``(B) Application.--The nutrition standards shall
apply to all foods sold--
``(i) outside the school meal programs;
``(ii) on the school campus; and
``(iii) at any time during the school day.
``(C) Requirements.--In establishing nutrition
standards under this paragraph, the Secretary shall
consider--
``(i) recommendations made by authoritative
scientific organizations concerning appropriate
nutrition standards for foods sold outside of
the reimbursable meal programs in schools;
``(ii) both the positive and negative
contributions of nutrients, ingredients, and
foods (including calories, portion size,
saturated fat, trans fat, sodium, added sugars,
and nutrients of concern identified in the most
recent Dietary Guidelines for Americans
published under section 301 of the National
Nutrition Monitoring and Related Research Act
of 1990 (7 U.S.C. 5341)) to the diets of
children;
``(iii) evidence concerning the
relationship between consumption of certain
nutrients, ingredients, and foods to both
preventing and promoting the development of
overweight, obesity, and other chronic
illnesses; and
``(iv) special exemptions for school-
sponsored fundraisers (other than fundraising
through vending machines, school stores, snack
bars, a la carte sales, and any other
exclusions determined by the Secretary), if the
fundraisers are approved by the school and are
infrequent within the school.
``(D) Updating standards.--As soon as practicable
after the date of publication by the Department of
Agriculture and the Department of Health and Human
Services of a new edition of the Dietary Guidelines for
Americans under section 301 of the National Nutrition
Monitoring and Related Research Act of 1990 (7 U.S.C.
5341), the Secretary shall review and update as
necessary the school nutrition standards and
requirements established under this subsection.
``(2) Implementation.--
``(A) Effective date.--
``(i) In general.--Except as provided in
clause (ii), the proposed regulations under
paragraph (1) shall take effect at the
beginning of the school year following the date
on which the regulations are finalized.
``(ii) Exception.--If the regulations are
finalized on a date that is not more than 90
days before the beginning of the school year,
the proposed regulations shall take effect at
the beginning of the following school year.
``(B) Reporting.--The Secretary shall submit to the
Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry of
the Senate and the Committee on Education and Labor of
the House of Representatives a quarterly report that
describes progress made toward promulgating final
regulations under this subsection.''.
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