From our news partners at The Seattle Times: Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack said a Republican plan to offer schools waivers from federal nutrition standards will bring back more sugar, fat and sodium to cafeterias.
Last year they battled over how much to help poor Americans afford groceries.
Now Democrats and Republicans in Congress are waging another food fight, this time over nutritional standards for students.
House Republicans this week punted on a vote on the 2015 agriculture spending bill containing a controversial provision to allow money-losing school cafeterias to opt out of federal standards for healthful meals. That delayed a showdown until the next few weeks, when the appropriations bill is expected on the floor.
If the measure passes, the nation’s schools will be “going back to old ways of doing business that will result in more fat, more sugar and more sodium,” Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said in an interview Friday.
Vilsack’s media outreach was part of the Obama administration’s push back against giving one-year waivers on the meal standards. Some districts have complained that revamping menus to include more fruits and vegetables and whole grains and to lower calories has been difficult and turned off picky eaters.
Rep. Robert B. Aderholt, R-Ala., who chairs the House subcommittee on agriculture appropriations, has said the waiver is needed because the new regulations “are far-reaching and have come too fast for local school districts to swallow.” He said the waiver simply gives financially struggling schools an extra 12 months to comply.
