USA TODAY International Edition
Michelle Obama’s healthy lunches legacy undone
Administration to drop first lady’s rules on school nutrition
The Trump administration is looking to whittle away at the legacy of former first lady Michelle Obama, undercutting two of her key efforts: child nutrition and girls’ education worldwide.
On Monday, Sonny Perdue, President Trump’s new Agriculture secretary, announced he would loosen restrictions on federally funded school lunch programs — current rules require schools to serve more whole grains, fresh fruits and vegetables to millions of children while limiting salt and fat. The push is part of Obama’s well- known initiative to help children eat more healthy meals.
Also on Monday, Peace Corps employees said they had been told to stop using the name of Obama’s 2- year- old “Let Girls Learn” initiative, CNN reported. Peace Corps workers said they’d been told that as a program unto itself, “Let Girls Learn” was ending.
Obama’s office did not immediately respond to a request for an interview.
Ahead of the nutrition rollback announcement, the U. S. Department of Agriculture said a new rule would provide “regulatory flexibility.”
The rules set fat, sugar and sodium limits on foods in the lunch line and beyond.
Schools have long been required to follow government nutrition rules if they accept federal reimbursements for free and reduced- price meals for low- income students, but the Obama administration’s standards were stricter.
USDA officials said the rules were designed to offer schools more flexibility in how they prepare meals, changes long sought by industry leaders and congressional Republicans. The change will likely be seen as a rebuke to Michelle Obama’s championing of tougher nutrition regulations.
The School Nutrition Association, which represents school nutrition directors and companies that sell food to schools, has long said many of the Obama administration standards are overly prescriptive, resulting in higher costs and fewer students participating in lunch programs.
Critics swiftly responded. “Just because children would rather eat heavily salted, processed foods at school doesn’t mean they should,” Environmental Working Group’s President Ken Cook said. “The president’s fondness for Big Macs and KFC is well- known, but we shouldn’t let Colonel Sanders and McDonald’s run the school cafeteria.”
Nancy Brown, CEO of the American Heart Association, said improving children’s health should be a top priority for the USDA. Serving more nutritious foods in schools, she said, “is a clear- cut way to accomplish this goal.”