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Workingmother.com| august/september 2019 55
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rilled cheese, onion rings, garlicky
green beans and Tostitos chips
with salsa. That’s what was on the
lunch menu one day at the end of
the 2018-19 school year at many
New York City public schools. Two
days later, students got chicken and waffl es with
home fries and creamed spinach. Fried carbs and a
sad vegetable: This is what school lunches look like
in much of America. It’s a little hard to swallow
when you realize that a sample lunch in Greece
includes baked chicken over orzo, while kids in
Italy get local fi sh on a bed of arugula. Probably
not unrelated: The U.S. has among the highest
childhood obesity rates in the world.
Our school lunches were starting to look up a
few years ago. Michelle Obama worked to pass the
Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010, which
required cafeterias to lower sodium levels, cut back
on higher-fat fl avored milk, and add more whole
grains. Recently, however, those healthier guide-
lines have been relaxed. The Obama-era rules
required all carb-centric foods (such as pizza, pasta
and hot dog buns) to be whole-grain-rich—meaning
they must contain at least 50 percent whole
grains—but, with the new relaxed guidelines, only
half of these foods have to meet that standard.Schools are freer to serve low-fat chocolate milk
instead of only nonfat. And although schools will
still have to cut back on the amount of sodium in
cafeteria lunches, the new guidelines allow for an
extra 300 milligrams. Why the changes? The USDA
insists the relaxed rules will give schools more
fl exibility to serve appealing foods. Agriculture
Secretary Sonny Perdue, appointed by President
Trump, said in a statement: “If kids are not eating
what is being served, they are not benefi ting, and
food is being wasted.”
But many concerned parents, nutritionists and
advocates say that reasoning is a bunch of baloney.
A 2015 study found that students ate more fruit
and did not throw out more of their meals under
the new standards, and a 2016 study found no
link between the type of food and food waste.
“This is defi nitely a step backward for our
children,” says Sara Porter, Vice President of
External Aff airs for the Healthy Schools Campaign,
a nonprofi t organization that works to ensure thatLow-lift,
big-impact
ways busy
moms can
improve
greasy
cafeteria
meals
BY LISA FREEDMANIt’s a
little hard
to swallow
when you
realize that
a sample
lunch in
Greece
includes
baked
chicken
over orzo,
while kids
in Italy get
local fish
on a bed
of arugula.