Michelle Obama Hopes to “Move the Ball” on Childhood Obesity
Michelle Obama strikes again on the school lunch front. In a roundtable interview with a number of news organizations yesterday, the first lady pinpointed childhood obesity as the area in which she wants to leave a lasting policy legacy. “I want to leave something behind that we can say, ‘Because of ...
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January 14, 2010
Legislation Update: The Healthy Food for Healthy Schools Act
Senator Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark), who is taking over as the chair of the Senate Ag Committee, has just introduced a new child nutrition bill. This one is called the Healthy Food for Healthy Schools Act of 2009, and it's supposed to "improve the purchase and processing of healthful commodities for use ...
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September 10, 2009
Delays for the Child Nutrition Reauthorization
The current Child Nutrition Act is slated to expire at the end of the month, but with the economic crisis and health care reform dominating the agenda in Congress, lawmakers have yet to draft a reauthorization bill. According to CQ Politics, it looks like Congress will extend the current legislation to buy some ...
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September 9, 2009
Mark Your Calendars for Slow Food’s School Lunch Action Day
What do you get when you combine potluck dishes, the child nutrition reauthorization and thousands of advocates for healthy school food? Slow Food USA calls the result an "eat-in," and hundreds are about to take place across the United States. On Labor Day, this coming Monday, advocates in 290 cities across ...
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September 1, 2009
Legislation Update: A Five-Point Plan to Improve the Child Nutrition
Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) and New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn outlined a five-point plan this week to improve the Child Nutrition Act, and four of those points deal with school lunches. Here's what's on the (lunch) table: 1. Access to Free Meals: Currently, the children are eligible to receive a ...
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August 14, 2009
PCRM’s Controversial School Lunch Campaign
The newest controversy in school lunch centers around a new ad campaign by the Physician's Committee for Responsible Medicine. The Washington DC nonprofit has been advocating vegetarian school lunch options and is now drawing fire — from bloggers, activists and the White House too — for targeting the Obama daughters ...
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August 11, 2009
News From the School Lunch Campaign Trail
[Debra Eschmeyer, a Kellogg Food and Society Fellow and the marketing and media director of the National Farm to School Network, joins us here for a guest post on what's going on in the school food advocacy world] By Deba Eschmeyer — The current Child Nutrition Act expires September 30, 2009, meaning it’s ...
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June 24, 2009
Michelle Obama Gets Even More Direct About Healthy Eating
Michelle Obama held the White House's first garden harvest party yesterday, and this time the event was more than just a photo op with fresh veggies. While the First Lady has spoken several times about the importance of nutritious food and healthy school lunches, this was the first time she ...
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June 17, 2009
Legislation Update: Expanding Free Meals
After a near save for Philadelphia's universal feeding program, Pennsylvania's Congressional delegation has gone crazy introducing legislation that would expand the city's paperless enrollment initiative to the rest of the nation. Five Pennsylvania Congressmen introduced bills in the House and the Senate yesterday. H.R. 2803 and its companion bill, the Paperless Enrollment Act for ...
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June 12, 2009
Philadelphia’s Free Lunch Program Saved
The USDA has decided not to end Philadelphia's universal school feeding program, at least for the time being. A department spokesperson told the Philadelphia Inquirer that the USDA would postpone consideration of the initiative until the child nutrition reauthorization. Philadelphia's universal feeding program — set up as a pilot in 1991 ...
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June 6, 2009
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