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The Harkin and Woolsey Bills: What they Will and Won’t Do
By Deborah Lehmann —
There are now bills in both the House and the Senate that would require the USDA to regulate all foods sold in U.S. public schools. That means the USDA will be able to set standards for snacks and drinks in vending machines, cafeteria a la carte lines and student stores.
With a growing obesity epidemic and one-third of American children above a healthy body weight, it is outrageous that schools around the country are still selling chips, French fries and other high-calorie, low-nutrient junk foods. Local regulation clearly isn’t doing the trick, and the bills introduced by Harkin and Woolsey (which are almost identical) are a critical step in creating a healthier educational environment. The proposed legislation will probably get the most unhealthy items — the soda, fried foods, and salty and sugary snacks — out of vending machines and a la carte lines.
Still, the measure is by no means a panacea.
If you think stringent nutrition regulations can keep junk food out of schools, look no further than California. The Golden State has some of the toughest regulations on school food, thanks to a law known as the junk food ban — or SB12 — that went into effect in 2007. Under the law, snacks sold in schools must have no more than 35 percent of calories from fat, no more than 10 percent of calories from saturated fat and less than 35 percent sugar by weight. The law also imposes calorie limits on all a la carte snacks and entrees. As written, that puts many of students’ favorite items off limits.
SB12 was supposed to encourage students to eat a balanced lunch instead of an assortment of low-nutrient snack foods. But the ban hasn’t exactly cleared the shelves of chips and cookies. The six million students in the California’s 9,800 schools represent a hefty market, and industry has gotten busy redesigning foods to meet the state standards. I walked through a food product show in the San Francisco Bay Area in March and saw everything from calcium-fortified baked Cheetos to school-compliant gummy bears.
So despite the tough laws, students in California schools have a wealth of junk food to choose from, albeit with fewer calories and less fat. When I visited New Brighton Middle School in Soquel in February, a printout of a randomly chosen student’s purchases over the month of January revealed a daily lunch of Cheetos, hot chocolate and Cup o Noodles, with the occasional Gatorade or Corn Nuts thrown in.
All of those items meet the regulations for a la carte foods. But that’s far from a nutritious meal. And the national standards from the USDA will probably have similar results. The fat content will be lower and the packages will be smaller, but as long as the regulations take the form of numerical limits, the food industry will figure out how to make junk food that meets the requirements. And plenty of students will lunch on low-fat chips and cookies instead of eating a balanced meal.
The bottom line? There’s no revolution hitting the school lunchroom. French fries may be out, but chips, cookies and school-compliant gummy bears are here to stay.
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