Power Politics In Action: Congress Officially Makes Pizza A Vegetable

Hot lunch: How lobbyists, big food corporations, and their friends on Capitol Hill fried the Administration's school nutrition standards...

By Marian Burros

Not everyone remembers how the Reagan Administration was shamed into withdrawing its effort to put ketchup in the same category as a serving of broccoli or kale in 1981. But Dr. Marion Nestle, author and professor of nutrition at New York University, remembers it well. Which is why she says the Congressional bill passed on Thursday that has turned pizza into a vegetable “makes me crazy."

“It’s about profit. It has nothing to do with the health of children,” Nestle told Obama Foodorama.

The Agriculture Appropriations bill, part of the larger "minibus" that provides funding for FY 2012, was approved by the Senate on a 70-30 vote, just after the House agreed to it 298-121. It provides $18.2 billion for school lunch and breakfast programs but contains four nutrition riders, two of which prohibit the Agriculture Department from providing healthier food for children.

The proposed changes that would reduce fat, saturated fat, sodium and sugar, add more whole grains and increase the variety of vegetables and fruits in school meals are science-based recommendations from the National Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences.

Congress had asked for the update to help reduce childhood obesity, one of First Lady Michelle Obama’s signature projects, the Let’s Move! campaign. But lawmakers appear to have had second thoughts, though both Mrs. Obama and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack have repeatedly said the changes are essential to combat childhood obesity, pointing out that many children, particularly those that are disadvantaged, get up to half their daily calories from school lunch and breakfast. Better nutrition in schools is crucial for academic achievement and "winning the future," according to President Obama.

But spurred on by lobbyists for companies that might have their profit margin adversely affected by the proposed regulations, Congress is now requiring the USDA to back off from its efforts to require pizza makers to use more than 1/8 cup of tomato paste in order to call pizza a vegetable serving, and to reduce the use of potatoes (read French fries) in school lunches.

USDA wanted to reduce the frequency of potatoes along with other high-starch vegetables like corn, lima beans and peas because the IOM report said schools need to serve more orange and dark green vegetables.

The National Potato Council, in concert with Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Sen. Mark Udall (D-Col), made sure Congress killed the proposed potato restriction: French fries will be available every day in school cafeterias. The potato industry points with pride to Mrs. Obama’s professed love of French fries, ignoring her admonition to treat them as an occasional indulgence rather than part of a daily diet. Many schools brag that they bake the French fries before serving. But that takes place after they have been fried at the facility where they were made.

Companies like ConAgra, the industrial agriculture giant, and Minnesota’s Schwan’s Food Service, which sells 70 percent of the pizzas served in school lunches, went all out to prevent a change in amount of tomato paste required to classify it as a serving of vegetables. Under the current regulations, tomato paste has a special exception carved out for it so that the 1/8 cup used on a pizza slice is comparable to the standard serving size of ½ cup of any other vegetable. USDA wanted to take away the special exception.

Pizza purchases from schools account for the largest part of Schwan's $3 billion in annual sales, so it is not surprising hat Democrat Amy Klobuchar, the company's home-state Sentator, sent a letter to USDA warning them to leave the pizza standard alone.

At the same time Schwan's was complaining about the pending change in the pizza regulation requiring more vegetable content, it was vigorously selling itself to school lunch directors as the company that could help them meet the proposed new rules, because it had added whole grain to its pizzas and reduced the fat and sodium content.

“We’re passionate about feeding children better," Schwan's president Jim Clough told Business Wire in August. But that passion does not extend to vegetables.

The company did not return repeated calls requesting comment.

ConAgra and Schwan's have also funded the website Coalition for Sustainable School Meal Programs, which has urged parents to help change the proposed regulations, particularly the one about pizza. Barry Sackin, a former vice president for public policy of what is now called the School Nutrition Association (SNA), is running the website and has worked with ConAgra and Schwan's.

The SNA is a trade association made up of the people who are responsible for school lunches. It also has industry members, like Schwan's and ConAgra, who pay hefty fees for membership. SNA is not happy with the changes USDA is proposing. It wants another year before the changes take affect: 2013 instead of 2012. It favors leaving the exception for tomato paste, claims there is not enough whole grain in certain sections of the country to use in school meals, worries that fresh leafy green vegetables are not available in certain part of the country in certain seasons and that if they can’t put enough salt in the food children won’t eat it.

When the First Lady gathered hundreds of professional chefs at the White House in June of 2010 to launch the Chefs Move to Schools initiative, she asked them to help schools improve the meals they served. But many of the chefs were surprised to discover that the professional lunch ladies resented their efforts.

“Members of the School Nutrition Association don’t have any power,” said Nestle. “Unlike anything else in school they have to run a break-even enterprise and the only way to do it is having lots and lots of kids eat their meals, so they pander to lowest common denominator.”

The Chefs Move program, run by USDA, now has 3,700 chefs enrolled, according to Senior Policy Advisor for Healthy Food Initiatives Sam Kass. But there are more than 90,000 schools participating in the federal school lunch and breakfast programs.

The other riders in the bill: Sodium and Whole Grain...

There are two other riders to the Ag bill that seem designed to slow down the process of changing school lunch rather than an outright prohibition of changes. One requires USDA to provide scientific evidence that reducing sodium is important for health reasons. That shouldn’t be too hard: the Institute of Medicine has already done that. The other requires a definition for whole grains, and USDA already has a definition.

A USDA spokesman said the Agency sees “no barriers to implementing those parts of the regulation.”

House Republicans claim these four nutrition riders will save $6.8 billion over five years, a claim USDA vigorously disputes.

According to the Agency spokesman, the changes “will have little to no affect on the cost the new standards.”

Mrs. Obama could not have imagined that her efforts to reduce childhood obesity would cause such forceful reaction from the food industry, its assorted front groups and its friends in Congress.

Another anti-Obama front group...

The Coalition for Sustainable School Meal Programs is not the first front group fighting against healthier food. The Sensible Food Policy Coalition, whose members includes PepsiCo, Kellogg and General Mills, has been working to quash the government’s voluntary nutritional guidelines for advertising food to children, quite similar to the core principles of Let’s Move!.

The coalition wants to substitute the food industry’s far less stringent standards for the guidelines put together by the Food and Drug Administration, the Federal Trade Commission, USDA, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Last month, there was a hearing in the House in which the members made speeches, using text provided by the coalition’s members.

“What corporations want is free reign,” said Nestle. “They want to market anyway they want, to put any kind of junk food in kids and they’ve got Congress to back them up."

"The idea the Senate is passing laws about potatoes, putting riders on bills and the senatorial staff members are writing letters to USDA about the amount of tomato paste on pizza is power politics in action.”

Though Mrs. Obama agressively championed the school nutrition legislation that offered the improved standards for meals, the East Wing would not comment on the recent developments in Congress, instead referring queries to USDA.

##

Update, 11:00 AM: In Bali, Indonesia, today, President Obama signed the bill into law.

Ed. note: Dr. Nestle was recently named by Forbes magazine as one of "The World's 7 Most Powerful Foodies" -- #2 to Mrs. Obama's #1 spot on the list. Burros, the author of this post, was actually the journalist in the Reagan era who coined the idea that "ketchup is a vegetable," which is now part of the food culture lexicon.

*Obama pizza at top of post was created by British food artist Prudence Strait for the Daily Mail. Photo by Alistair Heap.

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Congress Thwarts Obama Administration's Plans For Healthier School Meals

House-Senate compromise bill dilutes USDA's proposed school nutrition standards...
UPDATE: Congress approved the measure. Read more here on the debacle.
In January of this year, the US Department of Agriculture unveiled its proposed rule for improved school nutrition standards, designed to create a sweeping change in the kind of foods allowed in America's lunchrooms. Championed by First Lady Michelle Obama as a pillar of the Let's Move! campaign, the rule offered the first real improvement in decades to the quality of meals that schools offer to millions of youngsters on a daily basis. But the proposal has come under fire since first unveiled, and late on Monday, lawmakers certified their own distaste for the rule as they approved a final House-Senate compromise on a $182 billion appropriations bill that requires changes to the nutrition standards. (Above: Mrs. Obama during a visit to a school in Florida to promote healthy eating)

The FY 2012 bill is expected to be voted on separately in the House and Senate this week, and includes requirements for USDA to delay a proposed increase in the use of whole grains in school meals, and to delay proposed restrictions for sodium levels. It also allows unrestricted servings of potatoes and other starchy vegetables, such as corn and peas; USDA had proposed a limit of a one-cup serving per week. Tomato paste on pizza will also be allowed to be credited as a vegetable. That's currently the case, but USDA's proposal ended this practice.

According to the bill summary released on Monday, school lunch and school breakfast programs will receive $18.2 billion in mandatory funding.* Republicans on the House Appropriations Committee said in a statement on Monday that the school meal provisions in the appropriations bill will "prevent overly burdensome and costly regulations," and "provide greater flexibility for local school districts to improve the nutritional quality of meals."

Without the provisions, the cost of school meal programs "would balloon by an additional $7 billion over the next five years – leaving states and local school districts in the lurch," according to the Republicans.

USDA's final nutrition rule was expected to be released next month, and would have gone into effect for the school year beginning in Fall of 2012. The proposed rule is based on a 2009 Report from the federal Institute of Medicine, part of the National Academy of Sciences. Both Mrs. Obama and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack have hailed the rule as crucial to combating childhood obesity, arguing that many children get up to half their daily calories in school. More than 32 million children participate in the National School Lunch Program, and 11 million are enrolled in the National School Breakfast Program. The Administration says one in three children is overweight or obese.

School meals: Profit & PR campaigns...
School meals are a high-profit market for major food corporations. Despite Mrs. Obama's efforts to encourage direct farm-to-table sourcing for cafeteria offerings, big corporations provide millions of daily meals to America's schools. Thus in the last year, powerful food companies, agriculture lobbies, and various coalitions of lawmakers have allied in battles over each food area that USDA sought to restrict. This has included the creation of slick PR campaigns.

For instance, ConAgra and the giant, privately held Schwans, which sell millions of processed school meals, including pizza, have funded the “Coalition for Sustainable School Meal Programs,” which includes a website with a campaign called “Fix the Reg,” asking parents and other "interested parties" to contact USDA and lawmakers to demand changes to the school nutrition rule. This group was especially interested in keeping USDA's current designation of tomato paste as a "vegetable" intact, something many nutritionists have argued makes poor sense.

In the potato and starchy-vegetable battle, potato-state lawmakers, led by Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) and The National Potato Council, joined together to create a high-profile PR campaign, which called on Congress to allow schools to serves as many servings of potatoes and starchy vegetables as they deem appropriate. It also included a website and a phone/e-mail campaign aimed at lawmakers. This was very successful; in October, when the Senate released its version of the appropriations bill, lawmakers voted to block the potato and starchy vegetable limit.

In its June version of the spending bill, House Republicans called on USDA to go back to the drawing board and completely re-write the proposed school nutrition rule.

During the public comment period for USDA's proposed rule, the agency received more than 130,00 comments, spokesman Courtney Rowe told Obama Foodorama. These were still being analyzed in October, she said. But the comments included requests for changes or delays to the USDA's proposal from entire school districts, as well as from the School Nutrition Association, the largest US organization that represents school cafeteria professionals.

The House-Senate bill approved on Monday funds Agriculture, Commerce, Justice, Transportation and Housing and Urban Development.

*The full funding from the bill for nutrition: Mandatory food and nutrition programs within the Department of Agriculture – including SNAP (formerly Food Stamps) and child nutrition – are funded at $98.6 billion – $2 billion less than the President’s request based on the Administration’s Mid-Session Review. "This funding will allow all individuals and families who meet the programs’ criteria for aid to receive all the benefits available to them, and includes $3 billion in reserve funds in case of unanticipated increases in participation or food price increases," according to the summary.

Related: In December of 2010, the White House created a before-after school lunch menu, showing what a week of school meals would be like before USDA's nutrition rule, and what they would be like after it was approved.

*Photo by Samantha Appleton/White House

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Senate Votes "No" On Restrictions For White Potatoes & Starchy Vegetables In School Meals

Amendment to change USDA's school nutrition rule passes by unanimous consent; lawmakers and National Potato Council celebrate "major victory"...
First Lady Michelle Obama vocally championed the child nutrition legislation passed by Congress last year, which allows the Secretary of Agriculture for the first time in history to issue a rule creating uniform nutrition standards in schools. USDA's proposed rule allows a total of just one cup of white potatoes and corn, lima beans, and green peas to be served weekly in the National School Lunch Program, and bans them entirely from the National School Breakfast program.  It's an effort to make room on menus for vegetables that ostensibly contain more nutrients, such as sweet potatoes and kale. The rule got royally sauteed late on Tuesday, when the Senate passed an amendment to the FY 2012 agriculture appropriations bill that says schools can't restrict the number of weekly servings of white spuds and starchy veggies. Sen. Mark Udall (D-Colo) and Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) authored the amendment, and the Senate passed it by unanimous consent. (Above: Mrs. Obama in her White House Kitchen Garden, where sweet potatoes are grown, but white potatoes are not)

USDA's rule has caused months of controversy. Lawmakers from both sides of the aisle have protested, and the National Potato Council created a major PR campaign, urging consumers to lobby Congress to ensure that US kids can eat French fries every day if they want to. USDA received about 130,000 comments on the rule during the public comment period, Press Secretary Courtney Rowe told Obama Foodorama.

After the vote, Collins hailed the Senate's thumbs-up as "a major victory," and declared herself "delighted" that her colleagues had supported the amendment.  Udall and the National Potato Council announced triumph.

“The USDA estimates that this rule could have cost as much as $6.8 billion over five years,” Collins said. “The lion’s share of these costs would be incurred by the state and local agencies.”

“I’m proud that Senator Collins and I were able to find a balance that ensures our kids are getting the proper nutrients in their school meals while still allowing schools the flexibility to serve affordable, healthy and local food,” Udall said.

Since the launch of the Let's Move! campaign, the White House and USDA have been encouraging families and kids to learn how to cook in an effort to improve nutrition and combat obesity. Udall adopted the "cooking is king rhetoric" as he celebrated.

“The lessons we should be teaching our kids is that it’s not about any one vegetable; it’s how you cook it,” Udall said.

The National Potato Council was "pleased to support Senators Collins and Udall," said John Keeling, executive vice president and CEO of the lobbying organization.

"We trust USDA will heed the significant concerns raised by schools, citizens and elected representatives alike," Keeling said.

The Amendment comes on the heels of the House-passed FY 2012 agriculture appropriations bill, which contains report language that says that USDA should go back to the drawing board and rewrite the nutrition rule from scratch. The House and Senate appropriations bills will have to be reconciled.

The White House has been silent throughout the months of the controversy.   Mrs. Obama, of course, has continued to emphasize the importance of the healthiest possible school meals, noting that many kids get up to half their daily calories in school. On Monday, the First Lady threw a White House party for about 1,000 school officials who are using best practices for food, doing things like planting vegetable gardens and incorporating salad bars. Mrs. Obama does not grow white potatoes in her Kitchen Garden, preferring sweet potatoes instead. But French fries, she has said publicly, are her favorite food.

USDA officials are still analyzing the 130,000 comments they received on the nutrition rule, spokesman Rowe said. It's unclear how many of the comments were from people brought in by the National Potato Council's campaign, Rowe noted, as well as by other campaigns run by organizations such as the School Nutrition Association, which also protested the rule and urged its 34,000 members to comment. A final version of the rule will be issued in December, and go into effect as the school year begins in Fall of 2012, Rowe said.

Lobbyists said that the final language in Collins’s amendment was the subject of negotiation among Collins, Senate Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman Herb Kohl (D-WI), and Agriculture Undersecretary for Food, Nutrition and Consumer Services Kevin Concannon, reports Jerry Hagstrom of the subscription-only The Hagstrom Report.

“This is a positive step forward, and I hope the USDA will now move forward quickly to implement the important child-nutrition legislation we passed last year," Udall said.

That legislation was also passed by unanimous consent.

*Photo by Eddie Gehman Kohan/Obama Foodorama

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First Lady Hosts White House Party For HealthierUS School Challenge Winners

1,250 out of more than 94,000 eligible schools are Challenge participants...
UPDATE: Click here for the post about the event
First Lady Michelle Obama will keep a Let's Move! campaign promise when she hosts a reception on the South Lawn this afternoon to honor schools that have met her goal of doubling the number of participants in the HealthierUS School Challenge in a year. Mrs. Obama promised the party last March, and as of August 2011, there are 1,250 schools certified in the program, a cornerstone of her childhood obesity campaign. School cafeteria professionals, nutrition directors, and principals from across the nation will join Mrs. Obama.

The USDA-run HealthierUS Schools Challenge (HUSC) rewards schools participating in the National School Lunch Program for voluntarily adopting USDA standards for foods served in cafeterias, and for providing students with nutrition education and opportunities for physical activity. Schools are recognized with cash grants and plaques in a four-tiered system: Bronze, Silver, Gold and Gold of Distinction. In September of 2010, Mrs. Obama set a goal of doubling the number of schools that qualified for Challenge award status in just one year, and by February of 2011, there were 552 schools with HUSC certification. She met her doubling goal in August.

Just about 1.3% of eligible US schools have qualified...
But while Mrs. Obama managed to double the number of schools participating in the Challenge, there's a long way to go: The current number of schools that are certified represent just a little more than 1% of schools that could be certified. More than 32 million children are fed through the federally funded National School Lunch Program, with "nearly" 95,000 schools and residential child care institutions participating, according to USDA. Today's party is designed to call attention to the HUSC, and encourage more schools to get involved, in addition to honoring those who have created best-practice child health environments. Click here for a link to award winning schools.

In March of 2011, Mrs. Obama, Education Secretary Arne Duncan, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, and White House Domestic Policy Chair Melody Barnes spoke on a White House conference call to encourage participation in the Challenge, and it was then that the First Lady sweetened the deal with the promise of a White House party. Vilsack also announced $5.5 million in Team Nutrition Training Grants for Healthy Meals to help schools meet Challenge requirements.

The White House shindig was originally scheduled for this summer, but was postponed until today.

*Photo by Eddie Gehman Kohan/Obama Foodorama

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Kass Gives Update On "Chefs Move to Schools"

Now entering its second year, the program has paired thousands of professional chefs with public schools...

By President Obama's proclamation, September is National Childhood Obesity Awareness Month. Thanks to the work of First Lady Obama with the Let's Move! campaign, as America's kids head back to school this month, thousands will be seeing healthier foods in their cafeterias. In addition to changes that are a result of the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act 2010, the Chefs Move to Schools project is now well established. Launched by Mrs. Obama in June of 2010, the program matches volunteer professional chefs with their local public schools. It has hit a new benchmark, according to Senior Policy Advisor for Healthy Food Initiatives Sam Kass (above).

"We have 2,700 chefs and 2,500 schools that have signed up already, and hopefully we'll continue to grow," Kass told Nation's Restaurant News. "They're trying to support the great work that's already going on."

NRN is a publication for culinary professionals, and in a video interview with reporter Ron Ruggless, Kass, the mastermind behind Chefs Move, discusses how professional chefs can help get children interested in eating healthier foods. He traveled the US this year speaking about Let's Move! and wooing culinary profs to join the program: Kass visited San Diego, California; and New Orleans, LA; and New York city--numerous times; and Dallas, Texas, among other places. (Above: A map showing chef and school matches across the US)

"Working with the food service professionals, starting with the Director of Food Service, is a great place to start," Kass said about how culinary pros can participate with Chefs Move. The program is coordinated by USDA; more information is here.



Kass also discusses school and community gardens, and how to empower both children and parents to make healthier choices.

"The First Lady has seen time and time again how simple engagement of kids in the process of what to eat...really opens their minds," Kass said.

Mrs. Obama first urged America's food service professionals to join her campaign with an address to the leaders of the National Restaurant Association in Fall of 2010.

*Photo and video by Ron Ruggless of Nation's Restaurant News, with thanks.

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President Obama Proclaims September "National Childhood Obesity Awareness Month"

"Everyone has a role to play in preventing and reversing the tide of childhood obesity," President says...
President Obama calls childhood obesity "one of the most urgent health issues we face in this country" in a Proclamation issued Wednesday that deems September as National Childhood Obesity Awareness Month. Writing about the importance of "stopping the epidemic in its tracks," the President praises First Lady Obama's Let's Move! campaign as he urges citizens to learn about healthier eating and exercise.

President Obama notes that "a third of American children are overweight or obese" and those born in the year 200o are on track for developing devastating obesity-related diseases, including Type II diabetes, heart disease, and cancer.

"Childhood obesity cuts across all cultural and demographic lines, so Let's Move! has started initiatives to reach every cross-section of America, from urban and rural areas to schools, health clinics, and child care homes and centers," President Obama writes.

The President ticks off the impressive slate of "groundbreaking partnerships" Mrs. Obama has garnered since launching the Let's Move! campaign in February of 2010, bringing together "Federal agencies and some of the biggest corporations and nonprofits from across our country." The President cites successes that include the pathbreaking school nutrition legislation he signed in December of 2010; the private sector commitment from major grocery chains to build stores in food deserts; Let's Move Childcare, launched in June; the launch of the MyPlate initiative and the 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans; and meeting the goal of enrolling 1,250 schools in the HealthierUS School Challenge, which he calls a "cornerstone" of the campaign. (Above: Mrs. Obama speaking in Georgia in February 2011, for the first anniversary of Let's Move!)

The 1,250 schools that have completed the HealthierUS School Challenge are about 1% of US schools that can potentially qualify, but it's a good start. In October, Mrs. Obama will welcome school officials and cafeteria managers from across the US to the White House to celebrate their success.

"These programs touch everyone, from faith-based communities to Indian Country, empowering kids and their families to discover the fun in healthy eating and exercise," President Obama writes.

Let's Move in Indian Country, launched in May, is the only component of the campaign that is focused on a specific racial or cultural minority, and has gotten major attention from the White House in recent months, with a special planting event in Mrs. Obama's Kitchen Garden in June, and a South Lawn Series event in July focusing on lacrosse. Mrs. Obama launched Let's Move Faith and Communities in November of 2010, which focuses on religious and community organizations.

"I invite all Americans to visit LetsMove.gov to learn more about this initiative and how to help children eat healthy and stay active," President Obama writes.

"During National Childhood Obesity Awareness Month, we recognize the outstanding work our businesses, communities, and families are doing to help us meet our responsibilities to our children. I urge all Americans to help us meet our goal of solving the problem of childhood obesity within a generation," President Obama concludes.

The President's Proclamation makes no mention of the importance of school and community gardens for combating obesity, though Mrs. Obama has called her Kitchen Garden the inspiration for the Let's Move! campaign, and will publish a book in April of 2012 about the project. The tome will be her first outing as an author.

The full text of the President's proclamation:

The White House

Office of the Press Secretary

_________________________________

August 31, 2011

Presidential Proclamation
National Childhood Obesity Awareness Month

Since the 1970s, the rate of childhood obesity in our country has tripled, and today a third of American children are overweight or obese. This dramatic rise threatens to have far‑reaching, long-term effects on our children's health, livelihoods, and futures. Without major changes, a third of children born in the year 2000 will develop Type 2 diabetes during their lifetimes, and many others will face obesity‑related problems like heart disease, high blood pressure, cancer, and asthma. As a Nation, our greatest responsibility is to ensure the well-being of our children. By taking action to address the issue of childhood obesity, we can help America's next generation reach their full potential.

Together, we can stop this epidemic in its tracks. Over the last year and a half, the First Lady's Let's Move! initiative has brought together Federal agencies and some of the biggest corporations and nonprofits from across our country, working to meet our national goal of solving the problem of childhood obesity within a generation. Let's Move! aims to help ensure we can make healthy choices about the foods we eat and how much exercise we get, while building the habits necessary to tackle one of the most urgent health issues we face in this country. I invite all Americans to visit LetsMove.gov to learn more about this initiative and how to help children eat healthy and stay active.

Everyone has a role to play in preventing and reversing the tide of childhood obesity. This year, we announced groundbreaking partnerships with grocery stores and other retailers to increase access to healthy food in underserved areas. These stores have pledged to increase their fruit and vegetable offerings and to open new locations in communities where nutritious food is limited or unavailable.

Childhood obesity cuts across all cultural and demographic lines, so Let's Move! has started initiatives to reach every cross‑section of America, from urban and rural areas to schools, health clinics, and child care homes and centers. These programs touch everyone, from faith‑based communities to Indian Country, empowering kids and their families to discover the fun in healthy eating and exercise.

Schools also have an important role in ensuring our children live full and active lives. Last December, I signed the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act into law, enacting comprehensive change that will allow more children to eat healthier school lunches. One of the cornerstones of Let's Move! is the HealthierUS School Challenge. This year, America met the goal of doubling the number of schools meeting the Challenge's requirements for expanding nutrition and physical activity opportunities. These 1,250 schools have shown that together, we can go above and beyond to give our kids the healthy future they deserve.

We are coordinating across the Federal Government to make our goal a reality. This year, the Federal Government released updated Dietary Guidelines for Americans, providing a science‑based roadmap for individuals to make healthy choices, and emphasizing the importance of good nutrition and an active lifestyle. We adapted the food pyramid to a new design ‑‑ MyPlate ‑‑ to encourage balanced meals. And our Healthy People 2020 initiative incorporates childhood obesity prevention in its goals for increasing the health of all Americans.

Across our country, parents are working hard every day to make sure their kids are healthy, and my Administration is committed to supporting families in their efforts. During National Childhood Obesity Awareness Month, we recognize the outstanding work our businesses, communities, and families are doing to help us meet our responsibilities to our children. I urge all Americans to help us meet our goal of solving the problem of childhood obesity within a generation.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim September 2011 as National Childhood Obesity Awareness Month. I encourage all Americans to take action by learning about and engaging in activities that promote healthy eating and greater physical activity by all our Nation's children.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this thirty-first day of August, in the year of our Lord two thousand eleven, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and thirty-sixth.

BARACK OBAMA

####

In the photo at top, President Obama talks with kids attending a Let's Move! tennis clinic on the South Lawn of the White House, Aug. 3, 2010. Photo by Pete Souza/White House.

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Michelle Obama's Let's Move! Campaign Hits Milestone With HealthierUS School Challenge

1,250 schools are now certified in program; USDA gives update on child nutrition legislation for 2011-2012 school year...
First Lady Michelle Obama's Let's Move! campaign has met her Phase II goal of getting 1,250 schools certified in the HealthierUS School Challenge, USDA Under Secretary Kevin Concannon announced today during a conference call. The national program, run by USDA, is one of the cornerstones of Mrs. Obama's childhood obesity campaign, and rewards schools participating in the National School Lunch Program for voluntarily adopting USDA standards for foods served in cafeterias, and for providing students with nutrition education and opportunities for physical activity. Concannon also discussed the nutrition reforms and improvements that students and families will see in the 2011-2012 school year, thanks to the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act 2010, which President Obama signed into law in December of 2010. (Above: In September of 2010, Mrs. Obama spoke at Brock Elementary School in Slidell, LA, and announced the HUSC goal of 1,250 schools)

How the HUSC goal was met...
Mrs. Obama worked hard to meet the 1,250 goal for the Challenge, promoting it each time she made a public appearance for Let's Move!. There's been a lot of action over the last eight months: As of February 2011, just 552 schools had received HUSC certification. In March, Mrs. Obama, Education Secretary Arne Duncan, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, and Domestic Policy Chair Melody Barnes spoke on a White House conference call with about 260 school officials from across the US, to encourage participation in the Challenge. (Above: Mrs. Obama on the conference call, flanked by Barnes, l, and Duncan)

Vilsack also announced $5.5 million in Team Nutrition Training Grants for Healthy Meals to provide assistance to schools to help them meet Challenge requirements. By June 8, 2011, 1,220 schools were certified, according to USDA. Schools are recognized with the Gold Award of Distinction, Gold, Silver, or Bronze-level certification, and receive cash awards based on their level of certification. Clearly, the effort worked. During her conference call, Mrs. Obama also promised school officials and cafeteria managers a White House party if the HUSC goal was met; in fact, there was a reception scheduled for July 29, but it was cancelled, and has been re-scheuduled for mid-October, Concannon said today.

Concannon also announced the launch of the Healthy Access Locator, a web-based map that geographically pinpoints HUSC award-winning schools, and allows users to search HealthierUS School Challenge awards by geography (national, regional, local), school type (elementary, middle, high), award type (bronze, silver, gold, gold award of distinction) and date of award. It also features built-in data on diet-related diseases.

School food environments have big changes thanks to new child nutrition legislation...
The Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act, which Congress passed after much lobbying from the First Lady and the White House, is another pillar of Mrs. Obama's campaign. Concannon today hailed it as "a great win for our kids and the health of our nation."

"By fueling our nation's children with the healthiest foods possible while at school, we can reinforce the healthy lifestyles that many parents are already teaching their children at home, which will put them in a position to thrive, grow and ultimately reach their full potential."

USDA worked aggressively to implement reforms contained in the legislation, which includes a component that allows the Secretary of Agriculture for the first time to set uniform standards for school meals. Concannon said that USDA officials have finished going through the 132,000 public comments the Agency received for the proposed revamp of school meal standards, and has compiled these into a 150-page summary that is an internal USDA document. The Administration hopes to finish the rule, as well as a rule for other foods sold at schools (such as in vending machines), before the end of this year, Concannon said. The rules are supposed to go into effect at the beginning of the school year starting September, 2012.

A rule requiring schools to bring the price of school meals for middle-class children in line with food prices has already gone into effect, Concannon said.

USDA released the following updates on its changes under the new legislation:

*Nationwide Expansion of At-Risk Afterschool Meals: USDA worked closely with states to expand the availability of afterschool meals across the nation to through the Child and Adult Care Food Program. USDA estimates this expansion could provide supper to an additional 140,000 kids in low-income areas.

*Strengthening Direct Certification: USDA provided guidance, technical assistance and grant funding to states to improve their direct certification systems to help more children already receiving benefits from SNAP, TANF and FDPIR gain access to free school meals without the need for completing another eligibility form.

*Implementing Community Eligibility: USDA offered, Illinois, Kentucky and Tennessee, to implement the new "community eligibility" approach to reimburse schools for meals without the need for paper applications.

*Simplified Area Eligibility for Family Day Care Homes: USDA implemented a provision that helps more family day care home providers receive the maximum meal reimbursement based on the location of their family day care business rather than an income eligibility application.

*Promoting School Breakfast Programs. USDA provided guidance for schools on the HHKFA provision requiring schools to conduct outreach on the availability of the School Breakfast Program. Research has shown that starting the day with a nutritious breakfast helps students stay alert and perform better in school.

*Top photo by Samantha Appleton/White House; conference call photo by Chuck Kennedy/White House

read more "Michelle Obama's Let's Move! Campaign Hits Milestone With HealthierUS School Challenge"

USDA Releases School Meal Reimbursement Rates For School Year 2011-2012

US Schools offering students free lunches under the National School Lunch Program will get just five cents more per meal for the 2011-2012 school year, according to USDA's school lunch reimbursement rates, released on Wednesday and effective as of July 1.

President Obama signed the Healthy, Hunger Free Kids Act into law in December 2010, which provides the first increase in the reimbursement rate since the 1970s. The proposed new nutrition standards are here, but USDA has not yet issued a final rule.

The increases in the national average reimbursement rates for schools over the period July 1, 2011 through June 30, 2012 reflect a 2.18% increase in the Consumer Price Index over the last 12 months. The dairy industry gets a nice boost from the federal nutrition programs: The prices for reimbursement of dairy products has increased to reflect the 16.55% jump in the Producer Price Index for Fluid Milk Products from May 2010 to May 2011. The rate of reimbursement for a half-pint of milk served to a non-needy child in a school that participates in the Special Milk Program is 20.50 cents.

Lunch...
Free lunches will be reimbursed at $2.77 per meal in the 48 contiguous states, an increase of five cents from last school year. Reduced price lunch reimbursement is now $2.37, up from $2.28. The federal reimbursement rate for paid lunch is $0.26.

1 cent increase for breakfast...
Paid breakfast reimbursement rates increased by one cent to $0.27. In non-severe need school districts, the free breakfast reimbursement rate is now $1.51 and reduced-price breakfast is now $1.21. In severe need districts, free breakfast is now $1.80 and reduced-price breakfast is $1.50.

Commodity foods...
For USDA commodity foods, when computed on the basis of unrounded data and rounded to the nearest one-quarter cent, the resulting national average for the coming school year will be 22.25 cents per meal. This is an increase of two cents from the previous school year rate.

Adjustments to the national average payment rates for all lunches served under the National School Lunch Program, breakfasts served under the School Breakfast Program, and after school snacks served under the National School Lunch Program are rounded down to the nearest whole cent.

read more "USDA Releases School Meal Reimbursement Rates For School Year 2011-2012"