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Tell USDA how you feel about school lunch

Aug 28, 2013 | Food Justice, Policy & Public Health, School Food, Take Action

Last year, thanks to your efforts, the Child Nutrition Act passed with increased funding for each school meal, commitment to farm to school programs, and increased nutrition standards for all foods found on school campuses. THANK YOU.

Now that the dust has settled, we must ensure that schools are given the tools to put these historic wins into practice. What will those changes mean for lunch ladies and school nutrition directors as they try to get real food onto the lunch trays of our nation’s children? As the USDA figures out how to move forward from legislation to real live lunch, they are seeking input from you. The comment period is open until April 13th.

Help schools serve healthy food: email the USDA with your suggestions for implementing the Child Nutrition Act. We’ve got suggested comments here that you can simply copy and then paste onto the USDA’s form. Of course you should also feel very free to write in your own words.

Simply CLICK ON THIS LINK. Then you paste/type your comments into the comment box. Easy!

We commend the USDA for updating school standards–we just want to make sure that school food directors are empowered to make these changes, and given the support they need. These updated standards should be allowed to succeed rather than becoming unfair burdens to the schools as they try to implement them. We’re following the lead of our partners at School Food FOCUS, who work with school nutrition directors, and understand the on-the-ground challenges they face. We think it is vitally important to support school cafeterias so that they can bring healthy, delicious, local food to the lunchroom.

We urge the USDA to:

  • encourage schools to offer local, seasonal fruits and vegetables wherever possible.

  • provide training and technical assistance on how to purchase locally grown products.

  • partner with the Department of Education to help build food and nutrition education in the schools.

  • work with other agencies and Congress to restore equipment funding as an essential line item within school meals programming.