Cincinnati, OH – Across the nation, local school districts are preparing for second round of federal regulations that will greatly impact what students can be served for lunch at school. Monday, Congressman Brad Wenstrup (OH-2) met with local school nutrition experts at Nagel Middle School to discuss the impacts of the Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act on Ohio school districts.
Participating in a roundtable discussion during the visit, Meredith Potter with the Alliance for a Healthier Generation commented “Wenstrup’s attendance was critical for these professionals to be able to give their insight into how the new regulations will impact the quality and health of the meals they will be allowed to serve to our children during the school day.”
In their discussion with Congressman Wenstrup, school leaders echoed these concerns and stressed the need for flexibility and local input.
“We shouldn’t have the federal government regulate every calorie served in the country’s thousands of local school districts,” Wenstrup exclaimed. “We need to teach our kids a healthy and active lifestyle, but the local school leaders I talked to are more than capable to do this without bureaucrats in Washington, DC, attempting to micromanage the lunch menu.”
Passed in 2010, The Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act makes changes to the USDA’s core child nutrition policy, including several regulations that alter the nutritional content requirements of food served in schools. With the July deadline looming for compliance, school administrators are worried about their ability to comply.
