Blas Plays Politics With School Lunch
HAVING a case of the Mondays just got much worse for students in New York City public schools. On the heels of national Democrats’ nutty Green New Deal, which declared cows to be a climate threat, Mayor de Blasio has dictated “Meatless Mondays” for all students in the Big Apple’s public schools. Hizzoner claims that forcing kids to eat vegetarian-only one day a week will “improve New Yorkers’ health and reduce greenhouse-gas emissions.” Two birds with one stone.
There’s one glaring problem with de Blasio’s logic: Reducing kids’ meat consumption won’t make a meaningful dent in emissions, especially in New York. Nor will it make kids healthier.
All livestock, not just the animals meant for consumption, account for less than 5 percent of emissions in the United States, according to the Environmental Protection Agency’s inventory of domestic greenhousegas emissions. That is far less than the transportation industry, which produces nearly 30 percent of US emissions.
The canard that livestock are a major contributor to total emissions comes from a 2006 UN report that incorrectly assessed the impact. That report claimed that livestock emissions outstrip those from transport.
But a member of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization subsequently admitted that the impact was overblown and incorrectly calculated, by making an apples-and-oranges comparison between meat and transport.
The faulty study lent ammunition to vegan activist groups, such as People for the Ethical Treat- ment of Animals and the Humane Society, not to mention green socialists like Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who have used the claims to advance their anti-meat campaigns.
De Blasio argues that Meatless Mondays will also help students lose weight and get healthy. But it’s hard to see how. A quick look at the March K-8 menu shows that the Mondays are still packed with onion rings, grilled-cheese sandwiches and mozzarella sticks. Since when is fried food healthier than lean chicken breast?
Cutting out meat does more harm than good. A 2005 study conducted by a University of California Davis nutrition scholar found that among school-age children, those who consumed meat daily dramatically bested their vegetarian peers on muscle growth, intelligence and problem-solving skills.
Removing meat from 20 percent of a child’s school meals is sure to adversely impact his development over the course of his education. The negative effect of Meatless Mondays will be most acutely felt by the 74 percent of New York students who are economically disad- vantaged and therefore rely on school meals for nutrition.
De Blasio’s measure can’t but appear like a gimmick designed to appease his political allies. The mayor has for years targeted the Big Apple’s carriage horses after receiving significant campaign support from animal-rights activists. While de Blasio has failed to put carriage horses out of business, he can throw the animal activists a bone, so to speak, by forcing vegetarianism on school kids one day a week. Then there is the food waste. Studies show that concepts like Meatless Mondays, when applied to school meals, actually lead to more waste and noncompliance. A 2013 study of Helsinki schools found that in some cases students were 40 percent more likely to waste food on their plate on forced vegetarian days. School-lunch purchases dropped nearly 20 percent.
Kids are picky eaters, after all, and eliminating popular choices on Mondays could backfire. About 15 years ago, some schools in Texas started banning cupcakes and other treats, supposedly to improve student health. The result? A candy black market — or “Willy Wonka meets Casablanca,” in the words of one observer. What’s the betting line that New York kids will start doing covert burger runs on Mondays?
De Blasio’s announcement is a solution in search of a problem. The lunch program already provided vegetarian options, and forcing students to eat strictly vegetarian on Mondays only spells trouble. His attempt to nanny the students of New York City won’t work any better than did his predecessor’s attempt to dictate the size of soda New Yorkers can buy.
Here’s a better idea: Keep pet political causes out of the lunch line.
‘ In some cases, students were 40 percent more likely to waste food on their plates ’ on forced vegetarian days.