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Congress Takes Up School Meals In 2019
The nation’s school meals pro- grams — serving 30 million lunches a day and another 12 million breakfasts daily, as well as supplementary programs such
as afterschool meals, the popular Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program and the Women, Infants and Children (WIC) program — are expected to be reauthorized this Congress. The House of Representatives’ Committee on Education and Labor kicked off the process on March 12 with a hearing entitled, “Grow- ing a Healthy Next Generation: Examining Federal Child Nutrition Programs.”
Much has been made of the reform to the program during the Obama Administration, when the amount of produce required to be served with breakfast and lunch essen- tially doubled overnight. Seven years into program updates, student meals must meet vegetable subcategories, ranging from leafy greens to “red and orange,” to ensure expo- sure to a wide variety of fruits and vegeta- bles. Although the Trump Administration has rolled back some nutrition standards to now allow for products with fewer whole grains, higher fat content in milk and higher levels of sodium in meals, to date the fruit and vegetable serving requirements have stayed intact.
At the hearing on March 12th, School Nutrition Director Donna Martin of Burke County Schools in Georgia credited the Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program as a key component to ensuring her students eat the fruits and vegetables in meal programs, as well as at home, telling the committee: “My very favorite program is the FFVP grant program, where right now we offer 65 different fruits and vegetables, fresh, every day. Not at breakfast, not at lunch, but in the afternoon. And our kids run in off the bus, come into the lunchroom to see
6 / APRIL 2019 / PRODUCE BUSINESS
BY MOLLIE VAN LIEU, SENIOR DIRECTOR, NUTRITION POLICY
the Lucite plaque to find out whether it’s blood oranges or jicama or mushrooms or red bell peppers.”
The Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program currently operates in 7,600 low-income elementary schools, serving four million students a daily fresh produce snack. Participating schools are provided between $50 and $75 per student per school year. Funding is provided through the Farm Bill, but policy parameters are set through the Child Nutrition Reauthorization bill. Martin also noted, “They [students] go home, and the parents call and ask, ‘what is that star shaped fruit you served today?’ Then the grocery stores call me and say ‘will you please let me know what you’re serving because the kids are running in here asking for it, and we don’t have it.” She encour- aged the committee to expand the initiative to more schools.
Other programs in the bill that impact
produce include WIC, which serves pregnant and postpartum women and children up to age 5. Participants are provided a monthly voucher for fruits and vegetables, ranging from $8 for children to $11 for mothers. A 2017 report from the National Academy of Sciences recommended the voucher be increased to $15 for children and up to $35 for some mothers. The update to the WIC food package would require approval from the USDA. Although the committee did not discuss the WIC program at the March 12th hearing, the committee is expected to hold a series of hearings throughout the year. Ultimately, a bill must be passed by the House and Senate and signed into law. The last bill expired in 2015, but programs have been running status quo since then. Retiring Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman Pat Roberts (R-KS) has indicated passing Child Nutrition Reauthorization is a priority before his retirement in 2020.