School Kids Left Hungry

School Kids Left Hungry. I’m Greg Martin with today’s Line On Agriculture.

With the start of the new school year, there’s concern some kids may be feeling hunger pains due to the first changes to the National School Lunch Program in 15 years.

LUDLUM: There are new maximum requirements for the amount of protein and overall calorie content of school lunches. There have always been minimum requirements for calories, protein and other nutrients, but now there are maximums as well and it appears that those maximums, while potentially looking good on paper, really aren’t meeting the needs of particularly junior high and high school students that have a higher caloric requirement, especially for those that are active in after school sports.

American Farm Bureau Farm Program Specialist Kelli Ludlum says the changes are part of the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act, which Congress passed two years ago. She says there are positive aspects of the standards, like offering more fresh fruits and vegetables and reducing saturated fat, trans fats and sodium.

LUDLUM: The effort was actually well-intentioned. There was a real concern about the growing problem of childhood obesity and type 2 diabetes. So in an effort to solve that problem Congress instructed the U.S. Department of Agriculture to look at childhood obesity and try to address that problem through the school lunch program. The problem is that in trying to solve childhood obesity for some you actually starve some of the more active children, particularly those at the higher age groups.

Ludlum says she won’t be surprised if USDA takes another look at the new standards, because many parents are complaining that the school lunches are leaving their kids hungry.

LUDLUM: I’ve heard stories from friends and coworkers about having to pack al lunch for their child in addition to the school lunch. These are especially important for young people that are active in after school sports that just aren’t having their caloric needs met for, not only a long afternoon of classes, but possibly a couple of hours of sports practice on top of that.

Ludlum talks about the inflexibility of the new school lunch standards.

LUDLUM: The requirements for protein are slightly less than what USDA is recommending in its overall nutritional guidelines, but it appears that the real problem here is that there’s not flexibility to provide fewer or greater calories depending on their age, their body weight, their level of activity and those external factors are very important in determining nutritional needs.

That’s today’s Line On Agriculture. I’m Greg Martin on the Ag Information Network.