Kids need nutritious meals to help them grow strong and healthy and avoid long-term health risks such as obesity, diabetes, heart disease and certain types of cancer.
Unfortunately, more than 90 percent of schools serve meals that do not meet current nutrition standards. Based on the strong recommendations of the National Academies' Institute of Medicine and the federal government's own Dietary Guidelines for Americans, the USDA has issued a new proposal that would substantially improve the quality of school lunches and breakfasts.
The proposal includes common-sense standards to improve school meals: more fruits, vegetables and whole grains; fat-free and low-fat milk; less sodium and fewer unhealthy fats and calories.
But the USDA needs to hear from all of us by April 13 to put these good ideas into action. Please join the Kids' Safe and Healthful Foods Campaign, a joint project of the Pew Charitable Trusts and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, in supporting the proposed standards and let USDA know you want healthier school meals for all students.
Dear Secretary Vilsack:
Thank you for your efforts to set science-based nutrition standards for school meals. We know that a nutritious, well-balanced diet helps reduce long-term health risks such as obesity, diabetes, heart disease and certain types of cancer. We also know that habits formed in childhood can last into adulthood. Introducing kids to healthy foods while they are still young is critical. I strongly support the proposed school meal standards, including the following:
* Increasing the amount and variety of fruits and vegetables served with meals, while also limiting starchy foods such as French fries;
* Making all the grains rich in whole grains;
* Serving only milk that is fat-free or low-fat;
* Lowering sodium in meals;
* Training food service staff to implement the changes by the start of the 2012 school year; and
* Ensuring schools are reviewed to assess compliance with the new nutrition standards.
Overall, the proposed meal standards are much needed and will help to safeguard the health of American children. Please consider this as an official comment on the "Nutrition Standards in the National School Lunch and School Breakfast Programs (Document ID FNS-2007-0038-0001)" that appeared in the Federal Register on January 13, 2011 (Volume 76, Number 9).
Thank you again for your leadership on improving school meals.
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