The Child Nutrition and WIC (Woman, Infants, Children) Reauthorization Act is renewed every 5 years. It regulates the food served in schools and the amount of money spent on school food (and also the Women, Infants, and Children’s Program). Thanks to the hard work of school food and community health advocates, the problem of America’s burgeoning waste lines, and attention to the issue from Michelle Obama, Jamie Oliver, and others, it is finally becoming an issue – that if not dealt with now, we won’t have the opportunity to deal with for another 5 years. Important points that need to be made in advocating for it include more money for school meals, regulating all food for sale in schools, asking for a mandated plant-based entrée, offering non-dairy milks as an alternative to cow’s milk, making sure that funds intended to pay for free and reduced meals are not used to subsidize “full price” meals, and finally, that any increase in funding for school meals is tied to positive changes.
-Amie Hamlin
For more discussion on this bill check out this article.
Find out more about MHVS Advisory Board Member Amie Hamlin.
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