Vilsack invites school lunch stakeholders to meet
June 26, 2014 | 05:52 PM
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack today invited a wide range of groups with an interest in the school lunch debate to meet on July 10 with him and Sam Kass, executive director of First Lady MIchelle Obama’s Let's Move program and nutrition adviser to President Barack Obama.
The invitation appears to be a response to a request for a meeting from the School Nutrition Association (SNA), which represents school food service directors and the companies that make school foods.
While Vilsack invited SNA, he also included groups that disagree with SNA’s request to Congress that schools that have been losing money on their meals programs for six months should be granted a waiver from the healthier meals rules imposed under the 2010 Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act.
SNA has also said that some provisions should be changed permanently when child nutrition programs are scheduled for reauthorization in 2015.
The decision of Vilsack and Kass to invite groups besides SNA to the meeting appears to reflect a decline in that group’s decades-long status as the premier group speaking for the school meals programs.
“USDA has continued to maintain a dialogue with all parties who have a stake in this issue so that we can keep improving children’s health while providing flexibility to schools when legitimate concerns arise,” said Cullen Schwarz, a Vilsack spokesman.
“Secretary Vilsack is looking forward to continuing that conversation at this meeting and in the weeks and months ahead.”
Schwarz said the invitation went to the following groups:
The school lunch meals waiver is included in the House version of the fiscal year 2015 Agriculture appropriations bill, but Democrats planned to bring up a motion to strike the provision.
The House Republican leadership has pulled the Agriculture appropriations bill from the floor on the grounds that the House leadership is developing a legislative agenda following the election of Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif. as House majority leader and Steve Scalise, R-La., as whip after House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., was defeated in his primary. Cantor will step down as majority leader on July 31, but within less than a week the House will go out of session until early September.
House Democrats have said they believe the leadership has pulled the bill from consideration because they don't want a floor debate over the nutrition content of school meals.
Vilsack said today in Aspen, Colo., that he does not believe the schools will ever get the waivers. The Senate bill does not contain them, he noted, saying “The president is very insistent” on maintaining the healthier meals rules.
During a session on the future of food policy at the Aspen Ideas Festival, Vilsack also said that rural schools under pressure from declining enrollments have often looked to the school meals program to assess what are known as “indirect costs.”
Some schools, he noted, had been using the budget for free and reduced price meals to avoid price increases for middle-class children, but the Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act stopped that practice, he said. Since the schools began receiving the 6-cent per meal increase to purchase healthier food, there has been $200 million more in revenue in the school meals system, he added. USDA has also provided $160 million in equipment grants to the schools.
Former Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman, who was on the same program, served as president of the Wichita, Kans., school board before he ran for Congress.
Vilsack asked him that if schools apply for waivers, “How interested do you think the school boards will be in having USDA coming in an auditing their books?”
“About as much interest as a root canal,” Glickman said.
Glickman noted that school meals have improved enormously from the time when he was on the school board. School lunch “was the lowest priority after everything else. The roast beef had the colors of the rainbow in it,” he said.
USDA also noted in an email that its Food and Nutrition Service has granted flexibility to the schools in response to feedback from the schools in a number of areas:
Breakfast standards implementation — In response to concerns about the time frame for implementation, in the final rule USDA phased in nutrition standards for breakfast gradually over a three-year period beginning in 2012-13.
Daily meat/meat alternate at breakfast — In response to concerns about the cost of a proposed requirement to offer a daily meat/meat alternate at breakfast, USDA dropped the requirement in the final rule. Schools have the flexibility to offer meats/meat alternates and count toward part of the weekly grains requirement.
Starchy vegetables — Instead of an initial proposal to limit starchy vegetables to 1 cup per week at lunch and not allow substitutions for the breakfast fruit requirement, in the final rule all vegetable subgroups have weekly minimums. USDA also allowed schools to substitute some of the fruit requirement with vegetables, including starchy vegetables.
Fruit and vegetable component — Instead of an initial proposed meal pattern requiring students to select a full fruit or vegetable component with every meal, in the final rule, schools using “offer” versus “serve” can allow students to select only half a cup total of either fruits or vegetables for a reimbursable meal.
Sodium reduction — In response to industry and school concerns about the amount of time needed to implement sodium reduction requirements, USDA provided an additional year to meet Target 2 in the final rule.
Weekly limits for grains and meats/meat alternates (proteins) — In response to feedback from schools early in the 2012-13 school year, the first year of implementation, about the challenges meeting the weekly maximums of grains and proteins, USDA said menus that exceed weekly maximums for grains and proteins are compliant. Schools are also able to offer a wider variety of products in portion sizes available in the marketplace.
Frozen fruit with added sugar — In response to challenges finding frozen fruit products without added sugar, USDA has allowed increased the fruit options by allowing sugar-added products.
Whole grain-rich corn products — In response to some popular corn-based products not meeting the technical definition of whole grain-rich foods, USDA clarified that corn products treated with lime can meet the whole grain-rich criteria.
Whole grain-rich pasta products — In response to some schools reporting challenges purchasing and preparing acceptable whole grain-rich pasta products, USDA offered two-year flexibility for schools unable to obtain acceptable products. This also provides more time for industry to develop and distribute a wider range of acceptable products.
The invitation appears to be a response to a request for a meeting from the School Nutrition Association (SNA), which represents school food service directors and the companies that make school foods.
While Vilsack invited SNA, he also included groups that disagree with SNA’s request to Congress that schools that have been losing money on their meals programs for six months should be granted a waiver from the healthier meals rules imposed under the 2010 Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act.
SNA has also said that some provisions should be changed permanently when child nutrition programs are scheduled for reauthorization in 2015.
The decision of Vilsack and Kass to invite groups besides SNA to the meeting appears to reflect a decline in that group’s decades-long status as the premier group speaking for the school meals programs.
“USDA has continued to maintain a dialogue with all parties who have a stake in this issue so that we can keep improving children’s health while providing flexibility to schools when legitimate concerns arise,” said Cullen Schwarz, a Vilsack spokesman.
“Secretary Vilsack is looking forward to continuing that conversation at this meeting and in the weeks and months ahead.”
Schwarz said the invitation went to the following groups:
- School Nutrition Association
- National School Boards Association
- National Education Association
- Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics
- National Food Service Management Institute
- Pew Charitable Trusts
- Center for Science in the Public Interest
- National Parent Teacher Organization
- American Academy of Pediatrics
- Alliance for a Healthier Generation
- American Heart Association
- United Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Association
- Mission: Readiness
The school lunch meals waiver is included in the House version of the fiscal year 2015 Agriculture appropriations bill, but Democrats planned to bring up a motion to strike the provision.
The House Republican leadership has pulled the Agriculture appropriations bill from the floor on the grounds that the House leadership is developing a legislative agenda following the election of Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif. as House majority leader and Steve Scalise, R-La., as whip after House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., was defeated in his primary. Cantor will step down as majority leader on July 31, but within less than a week the House will go out of session until early September.
House Democrats have said they believe the leadership has pulled the bill from consideration because they don't want a floor debate over the nutrition content of school meals.
Vilsack said today in Aspen, Colo., that he does not believe the schools will ever get the waivers. The Senate bill does not contain them, he noted, saying “The president is very insistent” on maintaining the healthier meals rules.
During a session on the future of food policy at the Aspen Ideas Festival, Vilsack also said that rural schools under pressure from declining enrollments have often looked to the school meals program to assess what are known as “indirect costs.”
Some schools, he noted, had been using the budget for free and reduced price meals to avoid price increases for middle-class children, but the Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act stopped that practice, he said. Since the schools began receiving the 6-cent per meal increase to purchase healthier food, there has been $200 million more in revenue in the school meals system, he added. USDA has also provided $160 million in equipment grants to the schools.
Former Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman, who was on the same program, served as president of the Wichita, Kans., school board before he ran for Congress.
Vilsack asked him that if schools apply for waivers, “How interested do you think the school boards will be in having USDA coming in an auditing their books?”
“About as much interest as a root canal,” Glickman said.
Glickman noted that school meals have improved enormously from the time when he was on the school board. School lunch “was the lowest priority after everything else. The roast beef had the colors of the rainbow in it,” he said.
USDA notes its flexibility
USDA also noted in an email that its Food and Nutrition Service has granted flexibility to the schools in response to feedback from the schools in a number of areas:
Breakfast standards implementation — In response to concerns about the time frame for implementation, in the final rule USDA phased in nutrition standards for breakfast gradually over a three-year period beginning in 2012-13.
Daily meat/meat alternate at breakfast — In response to concerns about the cost of a proposed requirement to offer a daily meat/meat alternate at breakfast, USDA dropped the requirement in the final rule. Schools have the flexibility to offer meats/meat alternates and count toward part of the weekly grains requirement.
Starchy vegetables — Instead of an initial proposal to limit starchy vegetables to 1 cup per week at lunch and not allow substitutions for the breakfast fruit requirement, in the final rule all vegetable subgroups have weekly minimums. USDA also allowed schools to substitute some of the fruit requirement with vegetables, including starchy vegetables.
Fruit and vegetable component — Instead of an initial proposed meal pattern requiring students to select a full fruit or vegetable component with every meal, in the final rule, schools using “offer” versus “serve” can allow students to select only half a cup total of either fruits or vegetables for a reimbursable meal.
Sodium reduction — In response to industry and school concerns about the amount of time needed to implement sodium reduction requirements, USDA provided an additional year to meet Target 2 in the final rule.
Weekly limits for grains and meats/meat alternates (proteins) — In response to feedback from schools early in the 2012-13 school year, the first year of implementation, about the challenges meeting the weekly maximums of grains and proteins, USDA said menus that exceed weekly maximums for grains and proteins are compliant. Schools are also able to offer a wider variety of products in portion sizes available in the marketplace.
Frozen fruit with added sugar — In response to challenges finding frozen fruit products without added sugar, USDA has allowed increased the fruit options by allowing sugar-added products.
Whole grain-rich corn products — In response to some popular corn-based products not meeting the technical definition of whole grain-rich foods, USDA clarified that corn products treated with lime can meet the whole grain-rich criteria.
Whole grain-rich pasta products — In response to some schools reporting challenges purchasing and preparing acceptable whole grain-rich pasta products, USDA offered two-year flexibility for schools unable to obtain acceptable products. This also provides more time for industry to develop and distribute a wider range of acceptable products.
