Schools continue to get whacked for their slow-paced progress in updating the foods and quality of the lunchroom experience. With ever-increasing numbers of children going hungry and the overall increase in obesity, it is time for the USDA to take charge of this program and make the schools responsible for proper implementation.

Children should not be held hostage for being participants in a program they need. Nor should they be given less than standard fare. With First Lady Michelle Obama headlining issues about child nutrition, the campaign for healthy school meals has gained front-row prominence and now needs to be able to deliver success.

A Congressional committee, part of Senator Blanche Lincoln’s Healthy Hunger Free Kids Act, provides for the establishment of national nutrition standards consistent with the list of appropriate foods sold on school grounds. With a budget of $4.5 Billion for funding child nutrition standards, the USDA will be able to move forward in getting harmful products out of sight and improve the items in the school lunch line. The Act also provides for an expansion of after-school meals for at-risk children for a meal, not just a snack. For the first time it appears that the USDA will be able to impact the foods in line with nutritional standards and see that high fats and high sugars are items of a bygone period that should never have existed in the first place. It is shameful that regulations which govern what can be sold on school grounds have not been updated in 30 years!

With the cooperation of companies such as Coke, Mars, Nestle, and Pepsi, schools will be able to move children forward into healthier eating behaviors. Some of these companies have already taken steps to remove targeted items from school vending machines. It takes this type of cooperation from food companies and overall food industry players to impact the needed changes. Since over 2/3 of the states have limited or non-existent food nutrition standards, this type of Congressional action comes none too soon. With the expected passage of the Child Nutrition Reauthorization Bill, junk food will remain in the junk pile and not in the lunch line.

Out of sight; out of mind. We have wasted years and calories. The time has come.