Congress says you can have fries with that
Congress says you can have fries with that
Who needs leafy greens and carrots when pizza and french fries will do?
In an effort many 9-year-olds will cheer, Congress wants pizza and french fries to stay on school lunch lines and is fighting the Obama administration's efforts to take unhealthy foods out of schools.
The final version of a spending bill released late Monday would unravel school lunch standards the Agriculture Department proposed earlier this year. These include limiting the use of potatoes on the lunch line, putting new restrictions on sodium and boosting the use of whole grains. The legislation would block or delay all of those efforts.
The bill also would allow tomato paste on pizzas to be counted as a vegetable, as it is now.
Nutritionists say the whole effort is reminiscent of the Reagan administration's much-ridiculed attempt 30 years ago to classify ketchup as a vegetable to cut costs.
Piling on to the companies' opposition, some conservatives argue that the federal government shouldn't tell children what to eat. In a summary of the bill, Republicans on the House Appropriations Committee said the changes would "prevent overly burdensome and costly regulations and ...provide greater flexibility for local school districts to improve the nutritional quality of meals."
USDA spokeswoman Courtney Rowe said Tuesday that the department will continue its efforts to make lunches healthier.
"While it's unfortunate that some members of Congress continue to put special interests ahead of the health of America's children, USDA remains committed to practical, science-based standards for school meals," she said in a statement.
Nutrition advocate Margo Wootan of the Center for Science in the Public Interest said Congress's proposed changes will keep schools from serving a wider array of vegetables. Children already get enough pizza and potatoes, she says. It also would slow efforts to make pizzas — a longtime standby on school lunch lines — healthier, with whole grain crusts and lower sodium levels.
"They are making sure that two of the biggest problems in the school lunch program, pizza and french fries, are untouched," she said.
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- Posted on November 16, 2011
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i think that for those of you who think that its wrong for congress to choose for our parents, than pack your lunch and be happy! congress gives us pizza and fries!
Why is Congress choosing for us? Why cant parents and children choose? Its not Congress who will be eating the food and suffering the consequences, is it? I'm all for changing the school lunches to be more healthy for kids but Congress isn't? Many children across the US are either over weight or obese, and eating pizza and french fries are doing no good. They can change the pizza and fries all they want to be more healthy but it cant beat out a good old vegetable. I think they should let the people choose what to let their kids eat for lunch.
Summary: Congress is trying to keep pizza and fries on the menu at schools. They are trying to fight the Obama administrations to take unhealthy foods out of school lunches. Also conservatives are filing complaints saying that they should not tell kids what to eat. Spokeswoman Courtney Rowe said that the department will continue it's effort to make lunches healthier.
Food & Health : This kid must really like Pizza& French Fries. What I would do is try to make every kid in the whole school to sign a sheet of paper only if they like Pizza & French Fries. So if the congress says no that is the waste of hard work all gone for nothing. But if they give you an reward after they say no you might be known for doing something hard working.
Personally I think that it should be the kids choice on what they want to eat. If you take out on food then the kids might not eat at lunch anymore. Instead they would start to bring their own food. Which in turn would cause the school to lose money. Yes I believe the meals should be healthier, But you cant make someone eat what they don't wanna eat. I would give the kids a choice between healthy or unhealthy and whatever they choose is their choice. They will have to live with it not you
I think it is ridiculus that they are calling pizza a vegetable. Taking fries off the menu is unfair and uncalled for. I think kids should be allowed to get what they want, but in smaler preportions. They let us eat whatever. that is what I think
Comment: Personally I don't think they should take out unhealthy foods. Not everybody wants to eat healthy, and not everybody wants to eat unhealthy. I would just leave it up to themselves to decide what they want.
Summary: Congress is trying to keep pizza and fries on the menu at schools. They are trying to fight the Obama administrations to take unhealthy foods out of school lunches. Also conservatives are filing complaints saying that they should not tell kids what to eat. Spokeswoman Courtney Rowe said that the department will continue it's effort to make lunches healthier.
I have seen lately that people will either eat healthy when they're young or when they're old. If you eat healthty as a kid, and exercise often, then eventually you'll get used to it, and you'll only want junk food every once in a while. Wrestlers are kids that already eat healthy. They watch their weight, and that will help because when they get older, if they are fit then that's good, but if they start to get a little fat then they can easily go back to the old diet. But kids that are eating pizza and french fries everyday will never know what a real diet is, so they most likely will get fat, and to the point where they have to pay someone to help them with their diet. If we are forced to eat healthy now, then we'll get used to it and actually start liking the food.
I think that kids should be allowed to have SOME junk food when they want to. But no one should tell them what to eat and what NOT to eat. I think it is kinda outrageous. Of how they had started that.