[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 142 (Friday, October 10, 2003)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E2030-E2031]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    CHILD NUTRITION IMPROVEMENT ACT

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. BENNIE G. THOMPSON

                             of mississippi

                    in the house of representatives

                        Friday, October 10, 2003

  Mr. THOMPSON of Mississippi. Mr. Speaker, today my colleagues and I 
are introducing legislation to improve the nutrition and health of our 
nation's children by promoting increased consumption of milk in 
schools. Drinking more milk is a simple, natural step that

[[Page E2031]]

students can take to build bone strength during critical years, obtain 
a unique package of important nutrients and promote their health and 
well-being.
  Throughout Mississippi's Second District, parents and school 
administrators alike have expressed their desire to see improvements 
made to the national school lunch program. The most repeated and sound 
suggestion I have heard is the need to increase milk consumption; 
thereby, strengthening the short- and long-term health of our children. 
That is why this legislation is important.
  Since the first Federal aid was committed to providing warm meals at 
schools in 1932, a number of programs have evolved into the current 
national school lunch program. As we introduce this measure, Congress 
is at work to reauthorize the various child nutrition programs that 
have been so important in helping children and their mothers to achieve 
good dietary habits. I hope the bill we are introducing today--the 
Child Nutrition Improvement Act of 2003--can be included in the 
reauthorization legislation, and will work with the Committee on 
Education and the Workforce to make sure that happens.
  For a variety of reasons, Americans have been consuming less fluid 
milk over recent decades. For example, the average per capita 
consumption of milk by children age 13-17 fell by over 20 percent just 
between 1996 and 2001. It is not a coincidence that large numbers of 
Americans are deficient in calcium. Some 85 percent of girls age 9-18 
fail to get enough calcium; the same is true for over 70 percent of 
boys in the same age group.
  Fortunately, we now know how to increase milk consumption in the 
schools. Thanks to a 146-school, 100,000-student pilot study by the 
National Dairy Council and the American School Food Service Association 
during the 2001-02 school year, we know that by improving packaging, 
flavor variety, refrigeration, merchandising and other aspects of 
school milk, we can not only increase milk sales but also bring more 
students back into the cafeteria--thereby increasing their consumption 
not just of milk but of fruits, vegetables, and other healthy foods as 
well.
  In the test schools, students got extra flavors; drank milk out of 
more attractive and easy-open packaging; selected the milk from modern 
glass-front merchandisers; and found their milk consistently cold 
because of extra attention to refrigeration. The result was a 15 
percent milk sales increase in elementary schools, and a 22 percent 
increase in secondary schools. In addition, average daily participation 
in the school meal programs was some 5 percent higher in test schools 
than in control schools.
  If these results were repeated nationwide, 430,000 new students would 
participate in our school meal programs. Another 2.1 million students 
who already participate but do not drink milk would become milk 
drinkers. By adopting and maintaining a healthier diet, these 2.6 
million students would decrease their lifetime risk of six major health 
conditions: coronary heart disease, type II diabetes, colorectal 
cancer, osteoporosis, stroke and hypertension. A study conducted by 
Promar International estimated health-care cost savings of from $800 
million to $1.1 billion per year as a result.
  This legislation, the Child Nutrition Improvement Act of 2003, takes 
the lessons learned from the school milk pilot test and seeks to 
provide schools with the ability and incentive to promote increased 
milk consumption. The legislation has the unified support of the 
nation's dairy farmers and milk processors--it is endorsed by both the 
National Milk Producers Federation and the International Dairy Foods 
Association.
  The bill will: Require the Secretary of Agriculture to offer schools 
a higher meal reimbursement rate when they adopt improvements to 
packaging, flavor variety and other aspects of school milk; allow a 
wide variety of branded, flavored milk to be sold a la carte alongside 
the milk in the regular meal line; continue the requirement to offer 
milk with each school meal, but give school food service professionals 
the ability to decide what types of milk to offer, enhancing local 
choice; give all schools the freedom to sell milk at any school 
facility or event, regardless of any other beverage contracts the 
school may have; and authorize a Healthy School Environment Program to 
make grants to schools that improve nutrition and physical activity.
  Mr. Speaker, I invite all our colleagues to cosponsor this important 
legislation. We need to work toward improvements in our children's 
nutrition and fitness--the nation's obesity crisis demands our urgent 
attention. This bill will encourage healthier diets and better intake 
of critical nutrients among children in their formative years: the most 
critical years for bone formation, when adequate calcium is most 
important.
  We will work with all our colleagues of both parties, as well as in 
the other body where similar legislation has been introduced. We can 
reverse the dangerous trend of declining milk consumption, and we can 
begin to do it right now.