[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 177 (Friday, November 18, 2011)]
[Senate]
[Page S7825]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         HEALTHY SCHOOL LUNCHES

  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, over the years, I have visited dozens of 
schools in Illinois, and I have learned more about the childhood 
obesity problem in this country by stepping into the lunch room than I 
have just about anywhere else. Particularly in disadvantaged 
neighborhoods, school staff tell me that while students might pick up a 
piece of fruit or a serving of vegetables, the first food choice for 
the majority of students is a large soda and a bag of flaming hot 
cheetos. But for the young people we are asking to perform at ever 
increasing academic levels, we should be able to provide better options 
for their meals.
  Last year, Congress took a big step including provisions to improve 
school lunches in the reauthorization of the Child Nutrition Act. The 
U.S. Department of Agriculture deserves credit for taking the first 
significant steps in 15 years to make school lunches healthier. These 
proposed changes would provide children with a balanced diet that 
includes more green leafy vegetables, limiting starchy vegetables--like 
french fries--to two servings a week, limiting sodium, and boosting 
whole grains. USDA also proposed that tomato paste could only be 
counted as a vegetable if a half cup of tomato paste is used. Today, 
only two tablespoons of tomato paste is considered a serving of a 
vegetable which means schools can serve pizza to fulfill a vegetable 
requirement and receive Federal subsidies for doing so.
  I was dismayed to learn that the conferees for the Fiscal Year 2012 
Agriculture Appropriations legislation have decided to slow or even 
stop some of the new proposed nutrition standards for school meals. The 
USDA's proposal is science-based and informed by 2009 recommendations 
from the Institute of Medicine to reduce childhood obesity and future 
health care costs. Rather than uphold these sound recommendations to 
promote children's nutrition, the conferees report will roll back these 
standards and continue the status quo.
  But maintaining the status quo comes at a heavy cost. Federal 
subsidies will support a school lunch menu that is heavy on french 
fries and pizza, ignoring nutrition science and common sense while 
contributing to our country's childhood obesity epidemic. These policy 
riders will maintain the current standards.
  Across the country school districts are showing that with creativity 
and determination it is possible to improve school meals on a limited 
budget. Two years ago Chicago Public Schools made a commitment to try 
to wean kids off the junk food they have grown accustomed to and has 
moved to improve nutrition standards in school lunches and breakfasts. 
Flaming hot cheetos are still popular but no longer ubiquitous. The 
school district has exceeded the U.S. Department of Agriculture's 
Healthier U.S. School Challenge Gold Standards and is offering more 
fruits and vegetables, and serving more whole grains. CPS now has one 
of the healthiest nutrition standards in the Nation. There is certainly 
more work to be done, but the school district has shown how to 
implement healthier meals on a limited budget and should be hailed as a 
national leader for affordably delivering healthy food to children.
  I am deeply disappointed that the conferees have decided to resist 
implementing better nutrition standards in our schools, rather than 
fighting to reduce childhood obesity among our children. I am 
disappointed that the voice of powerful interest groups drowned out 
basic nutritional science and collaborating on strategies to improve 
children's options at lunch time.

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