Sonny Perdue Looks Back Pt 3
I’m Bob Larson. Sonny Perdue’s days as Secretary of Agriculture are drawing to a close, and there have been many challenges during his four years, the biggest being 2020’s pandemic.
Perdue says the job was already tough enough, without COVID challenges like keeping America’s children fed …
PERDUE … “We heard a lot from school nutrition professionals really regarding some of the rules they were under. It was a huge, awesome Rubik’s Cube they had to match within the confines of their budget and the flexibility they were asked to do.”
Perdue says the menu HAD to be updated and improved …
PERDUE … “The other thing that we realized, school children were feeding the garbage can, they weren’t feeding themselves. And so, if you’re concerned about nutrition for kids, you’ve got to also make that food palatable in a way that they will consume it.”
And, Perdue is happy to report, they’ve seen a big uptick in both the number of kids eating and the food quality …
PERDUE … “Many of them, that’s the nutrition they were depending on in school breakfasts and lunches. And, I just want to thank again our food nutrition people here at USDA. They did thousands of waivers there, in order to get these school kids fed, not only during that time when they left school early in the Spring, but through the Summer and the Fall, and now through the end of next school year. This has been a tremendous effort in keeping these kids fed.”
Perdue says it was amazing to learn just how much American children rely on school meals for their daily nutrition needs.
