USDA Joins Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro in Connecticut to Highlight Efforts to Improve School Meals and Health of Nation’s Children

NEW HAVEN, Conn.– USDA Deputy Administrator for Special Nutrition Programs Audrey Rowe and Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut's 3rd Congressional District today discussed the Obama Administration's priorities for improving school meals and the health of children across the nation with participants at a Healthy Schools Roundtable at the Barnard Environmental Studies Magnet School in New Haven. Rowe and DeLauro met with about 20 Connecticut school officials and local, state and community leaders involved in school nutrition. The group discussed the need for a strong Child Nutrition Reauthorization bill to enhance efforts to reduce hunger, combat obesity and improve child nutrition.

"Reauthorization of the Child Nutrition Act is an historic opportunity to improve the well-being of kids across America," said Rowe. "Our robust discussion today demonstrates the passion and support of many groups for changes in our nutrition environment as a Nation – with the prospect of better health in the years to come."

Strengthening the Child Nutrition Act is the legislative centerpiece of First Lady Michelle Obama's Let's Move! campaign to end childhood obesity within a generation. As part of this effort, President Barack Obama established a Task Force on Childhood Obesity to develop and implement an interagency plan that details a coordinated strategy, identifies key benchmarks, and outlines an action plan to solve the problem of childhood obesity within a generation.

"When it comes to our children's nutrition, we are confronted by two distinct but related problems. On one hand, we have a growing epidemic of childhood obesity that is endangering both our kids' health and their quality of life. On the other, we have the more hidden problem of hunger, with far too many children in America simply not getting enough to eat. While these two trends may seem contradictory, they are in fact two sides of the same coin that we must address," said Congresswoman DeLauro. "We have an opportunity to do so by reauthorizing the Child Nutrition Act, helping to resolve these twin problems of obesity and hunger, and ensuring all of our kids a happier, healthier future."

On May 11, First Lady Michelle Obama joined members of the Childhood Obesity Task Force to unveil the Task Force action plan: Solving the Problem of Childhood Obesity Within a Generation. In response to this plan, USDA will be moving to implement the recommendations in the report that require federal action. In the coming year alone:

• USDA will work with Congress to pass a child nutrition reauthorization bill that improves food in schools;

• USDA will update the Dietary Guidelines for Americans and Food Pyramid to provide parents and caregivers with helpful information about nutrition;

• USDA, Treasury, and HHS will work with Congress to bring grocery stores and other healthy food retailers to underserved areas by supporting more than $400 million in investments in a Healthy Food Financing Initiative.

Every five years, Congress considers improvements to the Child Nutrition Act, which authorizes USDA's child nutrition programs including the National School Lunch and School Breakfast Programs. The Obama Administration has proposed a historic investment of an additional $10 billion over ten years starting in 2011 that will allow for the improvement of the quality of the National School Lunch and School Breakfast Programs, including training for school food service workers, upgraded kitchen equipment, and additional funding for meal reimbursements for schools that are enhancing nutrition and quality. Additionally, this investment will allow additional fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and low-fat and fat-free dairy products to be served in our school cafeterias and an additional one million students to be served the healthy diets in school.

Today, Rowe outlined USDA's priorities for the Child Nutrition Act which include: • Improve nutrition standards. Establishing improved nutrition standards for school meals based on the Dietary Guidelines for Americans and taking additional steps to ensure compliance with these standards;

• Increase access to meal programs. Providing tools to increase participation in the school nutrition programs, streamline applications, and eliminate gap periods;

• Increase education about healthy eating. Providing parents and students better information about school nutrition and meal quality;

• Establish standards for competitive foods sold in schools. Creating national baseline standards for all foods sold in elementary, middle, and high schools to ensure they contribute effectively to a healthy diet;

• Serve more healthy food. Promoting increased consumption of whole grains, fruits and vegetables, and low- and fat-free dairy products and providing additional financial support in the form of reimbursement rate increases for schools that enhance nutrition and quality;

• Increase physical activity. Strengthening school wellness policy implementation and promoting physical activity in schools;

• Train people who prepare school meals. Ensuring that child nutrition professionals have the skills to serve top-quality meals that are both healthful and appealing to their student customers;

• Provide schools with better equipment. Helping schools with financial assistance to purchase equipment needed to produce healthy, attractive meals.

• Enhance food safety. Expanding the current requirements of the food safety program to all facilities where food is stored, prepared and served.

• Strengthen the link between local farmers and school cafeterias. Supporting farm-to-school and school-to-farm programs will increase the amount of produce available to cafeterias and help to support local farmers by establishing regular, institutional buyers.

USDA's Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) oversees the administration of 15 nutrition assistance programs, including the child nutrition programs, that touch the lives of one in four Americans over the course of a year. These programs work in concert to form a national safety net against hunger. Visit www.fns.usda.gov for information about FNS and nutrition assistance program.