The reauthorization of federal school nutrition programs should address obesity and food safety, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack told a Senate panel.
“This legislation is an opportunity to in one stroke confront both the challenges of obesity and hunger — with the prospect of better health and well-being in the years to come,” Vilsack said before the panel Nov. 17.
In a significant policy statement, he said the Obama administration believes that all foods sold in schools should be regulated.
“Not only should USDA establish improved nutrition standards for school meals, but we should set national standards for all food sold in schools, including in the á la carte lines and in vending machines, to ensure that they too contribute to a healthy diet,” he said.
Vilsack said the step was “long overdue and critically important” for the health of students.
School meal standards also must be improved, Vilsack said, and he cited a recent Institute of Medicine report stating that the average five- to eight-year-old child in America consumes about 720 empty calories a day.
“Our young people are eating far less dark green and dark orange vegetables than they need, far fewer fruits than they need, far more refined grains and far too few whole grains, and far too much high-fat dairy products and too few low-fat or non-fat dairy products,” Vilsack said. “We must do better.”
Vilsack also advocated expanding the agency’s current food safety inspection requirements to all facilities where food is stored, prepared and served.
Vilsack and three panelists from Arkansas testified at the Senate Agriculture Committee hearing, with Sen. Blanche Lincoln, D-Ark, as chairwoman.
Congress is expected to complete the task of reauthorizing child nutrition programs sometime next year.
The Obama administration has committed significant resources to the program, with $10 billion over 10 years for additional funding. However, Vilsack said the need remains great, with a recent report showing that 500,000 families did not have enough to eat at some point during the past year.
Nutrition programs help growers and industry as well, he said, because every year the USDA purchases $1.5 billion in commodities for the programs.