10.8.2014 A sign on letter for food service directors urges the School Nutrition Association (SNA) Board of Directors to drop its opposition to the federal nutrition standards with Congress.
While SNA was one of the original champions and supporters of the Healthy, Hunger Free Kids Act, they have changed their position to oppose many of the nutrition standards the law requires. The open letter, signed by current and former SNA members, urges SNA leadership to withdraw their support for any provision in legislation that would waive or weaken the school nutrition standards.
The letter, which started circulating last week, was drafted by Bettina Siegel of The Lunch Tray and Nancy Huehnergarth, a food policy advocate. It is an outlet for concerned SNA members to voice their unease about SNA’s visible fight against the nutrition standards and Smart Snacks in Schools interim final rule. Some of SNA’s lobbying priorities include delaying action to lower sodium content in meals; removing the requirement for students to take at least a fruit or vegetables; and retaining the option to offer less whole grain rich items. SNA responded to the sign-on letter by sending an “urgent message” to members asking them to not sign on.
This is not the first time SNA members have opposed their association’s own initiatives. Earlier in the year, 19 past SNA presidents wrote a letter to Congress asking them to reject calls for any waivers that would undermine the strong school nutrition standards through the appropriations process.
Read or sign on to the open letter: link
Changing students’eating habits is not an easy task, but undoing the evidence-based nutrition standards will only take us backwards. The decision to improve school meals was a bipartisan one. Let’s keep it that way for our children.
Learn more about CFPA’s Federal priorities for Child Nutrition Programs. link
The Lunch Tray link
How School Lunch Became the Latest Political Battleground PDF
Questions? Contact Ariana Oliva at 213.482.8200 ext. 203
