You may have noticed a few things missing from your school cafeteria lately. French

fries, deep-dish pizza, and vending machines packed with chips, cookies, and candy are gone.

The changes are part of the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act. That law went into effect in 2012. It says that school meals must meet new nutrition standards.

To receive federal funding, school districts have to limit the amount of salt and fat in school meals. They also have to serve more fruits, vegetables, and whole grains.

In middle schools, a lunch must have fewer than 700 calories. (Experts say that kids should eat about 1,600 to 2,600 calories a day, depending on their level of physical activity.)

Supporters of the new standards say that the changes will improve kids’ health and help reduce childhood obesity.

The problem? Some kids won’t eat the healthy foods.

According to the School Nutrition Association (SNA), about 1 million kids have stopped eating school lunches since the standards went into effect. The SNA represents 55,000 school cafeteria workers and food manufacturers nationwide.

The standards are now a hotly debated issue in Washington.

4 JUNIOR SCHOLASTIC / DeCembeR 8, 2014

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what’s the latest political battle in washington? Your lunch.

Stay out of my Kitchen! CafeTeria Wars CafeTeria Wars

Many critics want to do away with them altogether. They say that the federal government shouldn’t decide what kids eat. That decision should be left to parents and state governments, they argue.

Some members of Congress say that schools need more time to figure out how to make healthy foods taste good. Representative Robert Aderholt, a Republican from Alabama, is one of them. He recently introduced a bill in Congress. It would let schools

temporarily opt out of the rules. Could that mean the return of nachos, fries, and cheeseburgers?

recipe for Disaster?Students at Wallace County

High School in Kansas are vocal opponents of the new rules. To meet the standards, their school shrank portion sizes of chicken nuggets and other popular foods.

The teens voiced their anger over the new meals by making a four-minute video called “We Are

Hungry.” It is based on the song “We Are Young” by Fun. The video has been viewed more than 1.4 million times on YouTube.

“Give me some seconds. I need to get some food today. My friends are at the corner store getting junk so they don’t waste away,” students sing. Behind them, other students pretend to fall over from weakness.

Patricia Montague, the head of the SNA, is calling on Congress to change some of the requirements.

She says the rule that keeps schools from serving white rice or pizza crusts made with white

flour is too strict. One of the most common complaints from students about the new lunches is that whole-wheat pizza crust tastes like cardboard.

The SNA “supports strong nutrition standards,” Montague tells JS. “But some of the new rules go too far.”

Critics say that the new law has had an unexpected result. Schools are now wasting millions of dollars by serving food that kids won’t eat. According to the SNA, about

DeCembeR 8, 2014 / JUNIOR SCHOLASTIC 5

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continued on p. 6

beforea typical school meal included cheesy pizza, fried tater tots, canned fruit, and whole milk. Schools can still serve pizza—

as long as it has a whole-wheat crust, low-fat cheese, and

low-salt sauce.

afterSchool cafeterias now

serve healthier options: turkey sandwiches on

whole-wheat bread, baked sweet potato fries, low-fat or fat-free milk, and a lot of fruits and vegetables.

what’s the latest political battle in washington? Your lunch.

First Lady Michelle Obama champions healthy eating.

CafeTeria Wars CafeTeria Wars

6 JUNIOR SCHOLASTIC / DeCembeR 8, 2014

$3.8 million worth of produce is thrown away every day in schools across America.

Some school districts’ food costs have also gone up. That’s because fresh, healthy ingredients usually cost more than processed foods.

Montague says that Congress­man Aderholt’s proposal will help schools whose budgets have taken a hit from the higher costs and the fact that some kids aren’t buying the healthy options.

We are “asking for a few small changes to the rules to help schools serve healthy meals that keep hungry students nourished and happy,” she says.

32 Million Lunches

Nancy Brown is the head of the American Heart Association. She says that rolling back the standards would put students at risk.

“Schools play a critical role in helping kids establish good eating habits, achieve academic success, and attain better long­term health,” she tells JS. Trying “to suspend or abolish school­meal standards will undermine parents’ efforts to keep their kids healthy, and put another generation on the highway to heart disease and stroke.”

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, about one in three U.S. kids are overweight or obese. Studies show that obesity can lead to serious

health problems, including heart disease and type 2 diabetes.

The U.S. Department of Agricul­ture runs the national school lunch program. It says that 32 million kids still eat and enjoy school lunches every day. Some of those students qualify for free or reduced­price meals. They aren’t able to get healthy foods outside of school.

First Lady Michelle Obama championed the changes as part of her Let’s Move! campaign to end childhood obesity. She has

vowed to fight Aderholt’s proposal. She says that it is “unacceptable” to consider changing the standards.

“The last thing we can afford to do right now is play politics with our kids’ health,” she says.

The First Lady worries that if Congress lets schools temporarily opt out of the rules, the next step would be to end the standards altogether. The law is up for renewal

in September 2015.Nancy Becker of the Center for

Science in the Public Interest says that dropping the standards would set a bad example for kids.

“Sometimes it’s hard to adjust to new things, but that doesn’t mean we give up,” she tells JS. “Congress should not give up on kids or schools. They should help all schools provide good­tasting meals that are healthy.”

—Rebecca Zissou

▲by the 1900s, some schools started to sell lunches—often

for as little as a penny.

►After the wAr, General Lewis Hershey, the director of

the military draft, told Congress that 40 percent of rejected recruits were turned away because of health problems caused by poor nutrition. In 1946, President Harry S. Truman signed the National School Lunch Act, which helped fund healthy, low-cost meals for students.

▲In the 1990s, many schools struck deals with fast-food

companies, including McDonald’s and Taco Bell, allowing them to sell their products in cafeterias.

Should Congress keep the school nutrition standards, change them, or get rid of them altogether?

Send us a three-paragraph argumentative essay, using evidence from the text and

your own experience to support your answer. Five winners will each

receive a $25 gift card!

Go to www.scholastic.com/js for details.

JSContest

School lunch through the yearS

DeCembeR 8, 2014 / JUNIOR SCHOLASTIC 7

▼DurIng the greAt DepressIon of the 1930s, many people couldn’t afford to buy

food. This meant that farmers couldn’t sell their produce. To help kids and farmers, the govern ment bought surplus crops and donated them to schools. For years, schools made lunch with whatever they were given—sometimes nothing but onions.

►DurIng worlD wAr II (1939-45), U.S. leaders wanted to make sure that kids

grew up to be healthy and strong in case they ever needed to join the military. This 1944 poster encouraged kids to eat a nutritious school lunch.

►In 2009, a group of former military

leaders called obesity a “threat to our national security.” They said that 27 percent of 17- to 24-year-olds can’t serve in the military because they’re overweight. A year later, President Barack Obama signed the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act, the first major revision of school- meal standards in 15 years.

►begInnIng thIs school yeAr,

all snacks sold in vending machines and school stores must have fewer than 200 calories and no more than 230 milligrams of sodium. (A 2-ounce bag of Flamin’ Hot Cheetos has 320 calories and 500 milligrams of sodium.)

▼ In the 1980s, President Ronald Reagan cut funding for school lunches

in an effort to reduce government spending. With less money, many districts turned to cheaper processed foods. To help schools cut costs even further, the U.S. government classified ketchup as a vegetable.

School lunch through the yearS

◄the chIlD nutrItIon

Act of 1966, signed by President Lyndon B. Johnson, established uniform nutrition standards for school meals. It also created the School Breakfast Program.

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