First Lady Rebuts Effort to Weaken School-Lunch Rules
WASHINGTON — Michelle Obama turned uncharacteristically political on Tuesday, pushing back against a measure pending in the Republican-controlled House that would let some schools opt out of federal dietary standards for school lunches.
The standards, approved by Congress and the president in 2010, set limits on sodium, fat and calories, and require that unhealthy menu items be replaced with fruits, vegetables and whole grains.
Some big food companies and Republican lawmakers have criticized the rules, calling them inflexible, ineffective and expensive. Representative Robert B. Aderholt, Republican of Alabama, has attached language to a spending bill that would waive the requirements for financially ailing school districts.
In response, Mrs. Obama met with a half-dozen school officials on Tuesday from New York, California, Virginia, Maryland, Georgia and Tennessee who attested to the success of the new standards in their school systems. The standards have been introduced gradually over the last two years.
“The last thing that we can afford to do right now is play politics with our kids’ health, especially when we’re finally starting to see some progress on this issue,” Mrs. Obama told the group, adding, “It’s unacceptable to me not just as first lady, but as a mother.”
Sam Kass, the director of Mrs. Obama’s “Let’s Move” campaign to reduce childhood obesity, acknowledged “legitimate challenges” for some districts in carrying out the standards. Last week, Mr. Kass said, the Agriculture Department said that some districts could delay serving whole-grain pastas because “the product didn’t hold up well over time.”
Mr. Kass said the administration was working with food suppliers to help fix the problem. But he cited academic studies showing that, over all, children were eating healthier foods because of the standards.
“Let’s remember that before this, there were no standards,” he said. “Schools could serve candy bars and sugary drinks in vending machines and in lunch lines.”
The School Nutrition Association, which represents cafeteria administrators, issued a statement on Tuesday calling the rules “overly prescriptive” and citing Agriculture Department data showing a drop in school-lunch participation since the standards were adopted.
It said the organization was “disappointed that the first lady is only going to speak with a handful of preselected school nutrition directors today.”
Last week, the president of the National PTA, Otha Thornton, wrote a letter to members of Congress urging them to reject Mr. Aderholt’s effort to scale back the standards. “At a time when families are working hard to live healthy lives, school meals should be supporting families’ efforts, not working against them,” he wrote.
Brian Rell, a spokesman for Mr. Aderholt, who is chairman of a subcommittee with jurisdiction over nutrition programs for children, countered that the rules were unnecessarily costly.
“These new federal regulations should not drive local school lunch programs under water,” Mr. Rell said.
Mr. Kass, who is also a White House chef, said that schools should not be able to opt out of food standards any more than students should be allowed to opt out of math class.
“From the beginning, we’ve looked to set standards that put our kids’ health and well-being first, giving them the nourishment they need to perform in school,” he said. “For so many kids, the nutrition they get at school is the only nutrition they get.”
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