Study reports good news about Obama-era school meal program, but USDA isn't saying much about it - Entrepreneur Generations

An Obama-era initiative that mandated healthier foods in school meals produced "remarkably positive" results in just a few years, according to a U.S. Department of Agriculture report. But the USDA isn't making much noise about it, which some say is politically motivated, Laura Reiley reports for The Washington Post.

The School Nutrition and Meal Cost Study was the first nationwide, comprehensive assessment of school meals after the implementation of the 2010 Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act. The report found that the quality of children's diets improved dramatically by the 2014-2015 school year, when most of the study's data was collected. And though many opponents of the measure complained that children did not like the new regimen, the study found that kids were eating the healthier foods: "There was greater participation in school meal programs at schools with the highest healthy food standards. And the study found food waste, a troubling national problem in the lunchroom, remained relatively unchanged," Reiley reports.

Despite the good news, the USDA was unusually quiet about it. "There was no news release. USDA Secretary Sonny Purdue didn’t say anything about it. And the link on the USDA website disappeared for several days after that and was altogether inaccessible before reappearing under a different URL," Reiley reports. "A search of the study title on the Food and Nutrition Service site does not pull it up, nor is it accessible on the National School Lunch Program website tab." The study was first reported on by The Lunch Tray blog.

A Food and Nutrition Service spokesperson said most FNS publications don't merit a press release, and that news of the study was announced on Twitter and included in an email newsletter with 40,000 recipients. The FNS Twitter account did tweet about the study, but did not draw attention to the health impact of the Obama-era initiative. It said that school food directors were concerned about the cost of foods, and that school meals were found to be nutritious, but it did not say that those statements applied mostly to school meals during the 2014-2015 school year. 

The dates matter because in December, Perdue announced the USDA "was weakening school nutrition standards for whole grain, nonfat milk and sodium, all of which had been tightened during the Obama administration. He cited food waste and nonparticipation as key rationales for the shift," Reiley reports. However, the new study contradicts those reasons.

from The Rural Blog http://bit.ly/2KXYeyF Study reports good news about Obama-era school meal program, but USDA isn't saying much about it - Entrepreneur Generations

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