Sometime this year the US Congress will take up the Child Nutrition Act reauthorization. One of the major issues that will have to be hashed out during the reauthorization is how many children will need to be provided free or reduced-price lunches in the nation’s public schools. According to an article by Barbara Barrett in today’s Chicago Tribune online, the program may need to be expanded as more and more families struggle to get by in today’s economy.Barrett notes in her article that the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) has reported that while 31.2 million school children receive the federal benefit for free or reduced-price lunches, 62 percent of the students who participate in the National School Lunch Program “have shown they cannot afford the average $2.92-a-day price for a hot lunch [.]”
Another challenge with the program is the disparities between states in signing up eligible children. Under current law states are supposed to automatically sign up families that receive food stamps for the National School Lunch Program, this is known as a direct sign-up. However, this is not always happening. A USDA 2009 report shows that the top four states in enrolling students via this method covered more than 90 percent of students in households that receive food stamps while the bottom four states only enrolled 50 percent or less of eligible children.
Thus, many eligible children are going uncovered and many others simply can’t afford the program.
Additionally, Barrett reports that many parents do not know that they can become eligible for the program during the school year if a parent “loses a job or face some other hardship.” To qualify for the school lunch program a typical family four “must earn $28,665 or less for a free lunch, $40,793 or less to get lunch at a sharply reduced rate.”
Of course, these are not the only issues that will be confronted during the Child Nutrition Act reauthorization process. Members of congress representing states that produce a lot of fruit and vegetables, as well as nutrition advocates, would like to see more fruits and vegetables made available to school children, and some would like to see national nutrition standards for school lunch as a way to help combat childhood obesity.
And then there is the recent report from USA Today that showed the safety standards for meat used in school lunches is below the quality and safety standards that are employed by fast food restaurants. Further, the Government Accountability Office also found this year that the USDA is not always prompt in notifying states and schools about products that have been recalled that are being used in the federal school lunch and breakfast programs. Given the number of food-borne illnesses and product recalls due to pathogen outbreaks from meat products, food quality issues will likely become a topic for debate.
It also remains to be seen how the reauthorization will work in with any additional legislation Congress passes dealing with food safety. All in all, one thing is clear, food safety and child nutrition will be relevant topics for Congress this year.
To read the Chicago Tribune article click here.
Posted: 01/07/10
