[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 40 (Thursday, March 18, 2010)]
[Senate]
[Page S1753]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mrs. BOXER (for herself and Mrs. Hagan):
  S. 3144. A bill to amend the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch 
Act to improve the health and well-being of school children, and for 
other purposes; to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and 
Forestry.
  Mrs. BOXER. Mr. President, as we prepare to reauthorize the Child 
Nutrition Act, it is critical that we address the need to invest in 
commonsense ways to improve the health and well being of our nation's 
most precious resource--our children.
  Childhood obesity threatens the healthy future of one-third of 
American children. Every year we spend $150 billion to treat obesity-
related conditions, and that cost is growing. Obesity rates tripled in 
the past 30 years, a trend that means, for the first time in our 
history, American children may face a shorter expected lifespan than 
their parents.
  Right now, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, USDA, spends more than 
$10 billion a year on school meal programs, but only a small fraction 
of that funding goes to fruits and vegetables.
  A recent report by the Institute of Medicine entitled School Meals: 
Building Blocks for Healthy Children, found that increasing the amount 
and variety of vegetables and fruits in schools is one of the best ways 
to make school meals healthier, and recommends that schools increase 
their offering of fruits and vegetables to help keep kids healthy.
  That is why I am introducing the Healthy Food in Schools Act, which 
would improve school nutrition by providing more fresh fruits and 
vegetables in school breakfasts and lunches starting in elementary 
school, when children are developing healthy eating habits.
  A recent study was conducted by Dr. Wendy Slusser, director of UCLA's 
Fit for Health Program, and Harvinder Sareen, Director of Clinical 
Programs at WellPoint, a health benefits company that found children's 
consumption of fruit and vegetables increases dramatically when produce 
is made available in school meals. The data also shows that increasing 
availability of fruits and vegetables exposes children to new foods, 
which can affect their eating habits for a lifetime.
  The Healthy Food in Schools Act instructs USDA to put in place a plan 
to promote the use of salad bars in schools and provide $10 million for 
fiscal years 2011 and 2012 to help schools purchase salad bars and 
fruit and vegetable bars for their cafeterias.
  The Healthy Food in Schools Act also includes $100 million for 
overall cafeteria infrastructure improvements. Many cafeterias around 
the country are looking to move away from processed food and toward 
kitchens that can cook healthier meals from scratch, but they lack the 
funds to implement such a plan.
  The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act passed last year included 
$100 million in grants for cafeteria equipment, but the Department of 
Education received more than $650 million in requests for 
infrastructure improvements. This bill will help meet the needs of the 
many school districts that want to improve the meals they serve their 
students.
  This bill also provides competitive matching grants and technical 
assistance for schools to improve access to local foods. The bill 
directs $10 million a year for 5 years toward these farm-to-school 
programs.
  Farm-to-school programs are a proven, commonsense way to help improve 
the health of children while supporting local farmers and bolstering 
local economies. While many schools would like to incorporate fresh 
local food into their meals, schools often lack the startup funding and 
technical expertise to overcome barriers to making this change. These 
limited federal grants will give school districts and small- and 
medium-sized farms the help they need to develop new farm-to-school 
programs.
  With more than 31 million children participating in the National 
School Lunch Program and more than 11 million participating in the 
National School Breakfast Program, good nutrition at school is more 
important than ever. That is why I urge my colleagues to join me in 
support of including this commonsense bill in the upcoming 
reauthorization of the Child Nutrition Act.
  The Healthy Food in Schools Act will help ensure that our nation's 
children are not just eating, but also learning to eat healthy. The 
rise in the rates of children who are overweight or obese are a result 
of poor diets, a lack of physical activity, and insufficient nutrition 
education. A healthy school environment can help correct these problems 
and put our Nation's youth and our Nation on the path to a healthier 
and more sustainable future.

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