"Parents should know that our schools
are now one of the largest sources of unhealthy food for their kids,"
Sen. Tom Harkin, who asked for the study, said in an interview.
"Would anyone advocate that we take the fences off the playground for
elementary schools and just let kids run around in the streets?" Harkin,
D-Iowa, said. "By the same token, why would we allow schools to sort of
poison our kids with junk food?"
Obesity among children and teenagers more than doubled in the past three
decades, according to the government-chartered Institute of Medicine. Obese
kids will become adults with chronic health problems, said Harkin, the senior
Democrat on the Senate Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry Committee.
He and other lawmakers want the government to set nutrition standards for food
throughout schools and not just in the cafeteria.
Giving kids healthier options "should not be a suggestion, it should be a
requirement," said Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., another committee member.
Kids are suffering from higher rates of diabetes, high blood pressure and
other illnesses normally associated with adults, said Rep. George Miller, D-Calif.
At issue are so-called competitive foods -- snacks such as candy, soda, pizza
and popcorn available in a la carte lines in cafeterias, in vending machines
and in school stores. Apples and milk are also competitive foods, but the GAO
said candy and other junk food crowds out healthier stuff in vending machines
and school stores. Competitive foods are largely unregulated.
The Agriculture Department had restricted sales of competitive foods until a
1983 federal court ruling, in a lawsuit by the National Soft Drink
Association, limited its regulation to food service areas such as cafeterias
during mealtime.
Schools raise substantial dollars from selling competitive foods; 30 percent
of high schools raised more than $125,000 annually. The GAO said it was
unclear how much competitive food sales benefited school groups and how much
benefited school food service.
Advocacy groups point to a government study of 17 schools and districts that
improved the nutrition value of their foods. Revenue increased in 12 schools
and did not change in four others, the study by the Agriculture Department and
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found.
"Schools can make money without selling junk food," said Margo G.
Wootan, director of nutrition policy for the Center for Science in the Public
Interest.
The GAO sampled schools that participate in the Agriculture Department's
federal school lunch program, which subsidizes school meals and regulates
their nutritional content. Those meals have to follow the government's dietary
guidelines, which call for eating more fruits, vegetables and whole grains and
less calories, fat, added sugars and sodium.
The GAO reported that of 656 schools in its sample, 51 percent of principals
and school food directors responded to a Web-based survey. Investigators also
traveled to six school districts that have tried to substitute healthier
choices for less nutritious foods. The survey's margin of error was plus or
minus 15 percentage points.
The GAO report, scheduled for release Wednesday, found:
* Nine in 10 schools sell competitive foods from vending machines, cafeteria a
la carte (snack) lines and school stores.
* Vending machines were available in almost all high schools and middle
schools but in less than half of elementary schools.
* In one-third of schools, sweet baked goods, salty snacks and other
less-nutritious foods were available in cafeteria snack lines.
* Schools often sold competitive foods at lunchtime, in the cafeteria or
nearby, allowing kids to buy them for lunch or to supplement their lunches.
* Three-quarters of high schools have exclusive soft drink contracts.
Sixty-five percent of middle schools have exclusive beverage contracts, up
from 26 percent five years ago.
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On the Net:
Government Accountability Office: http://www.gao.gov
Agriculture Department nutrition site: http://www.nutrition.gov/