2012 School Lunches: Make them Healthy for Your Kids and Help Prevent Teen Obesity

If you haven’t heard about Jamie Oliver’s movement across our country to make a change in school cafeteria’s it is time to listen up.

This year, more people were talking about school food than ever before. With childhood obesity finally accepted as a scary national epidemic, politicians, the press, and a whole lot of parents were examining how and what we feed our kids. The Food Revolution has been in the mix all year long.

Last December a divided Congress managed to pass the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act, which defines the National School Lunch Program (NSLP) and all aspects school food. It brought an historic $0.06 increase in school lunch funding, plus new requirements for transparency and community involvement.

As mandated by law, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) developed new standards forthe food on the lunch tray. Grounded in science-based recommendations from the Institute of Medicine, they included important new provisions like adding whole grains, reducing salt and saturated fat, and specifying a diversity of fruit and veg. When the proposed USDA rule was opened for public comment, 25,000 Food Revolutionaries shared their thoughts with the government. In total, more than 150,000 letters were sent to Washington from people all across the country.

What can you do?  Get our community involved!  Join Florida’s Food Revolution Community – click here and sign the petition!