(2 May 2019) FOR CLEAN VERSION SEE STORY NUMBER: apus116402 VOICE-OVER SCRIPT:
NATS ("Let me give you a veggie, it's not ready yet...")
KIDS AND FAMILIES WHO RELY ON SUBSIDIZED SCHOOL LUNCHES MAY SOON BE SEEING SOME CHANGES IN THE MENUS.
NATS (Students getting lunch served)
THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION IS ROLLING BACK SCHOOL MEAL NUTRITIONAL REQUIREMENTS SET BY THE OBAMA WHITE HOUSE.
THE MOVE WILL ALLOW CAFETERIA OPERATORS TO BRING BACK THINGS LIKE WHITE RICE AND FLOUR TORTILLAS.
PROPONENTS OF THE CHANGE SAY IT'S A MATTER OF TASTE.
GAY ANDERSON WORKS FOR THE SCHOOL NUTRITION ASSOCIATION, WHICH REPRESENTS CAFETERIA OPERATORS AND SUPPLIERS LIKE DOMINO'S AND KELLOGG'S.
SOUNDBITE (English) Gay Anderson, School Nutrition Association President:
"We are not seeing this as a reversion or reverting to anything, we are seeing this as offering some great flexibility for the schools that have those few items that just we cannot get the children to eat."
BUT TASTE IS A PERSONAL CHOICE.
SOUNDBITE (English) Trinity Wilson, Fifth grader at Charles H. Taylor Elementary School in Boston:
"I would choose brown rice because brown rice is much more healthier than white rice, and I know that because my mom told me."
THE PROGRAM WAS A KEY ASPECT OF FORMER FIRST LADY MICHELLE OBAMA'S PLATFORM TO HELP CULTIVATE HEALTHY EATING HABITS IN CHILDREN AMID ALARMING OBESITY RATES. SCHOOLS HAD TO SWITCH TO WHOLE GRAIN VERSIONS OF FOODS TO RETAIN FEDERAL FUNDS FOR FREE MEAL PROGRAMS.
THE TRUMP ROLLBACK HAS RESULTED IN LAWSUITS BY SEVERAL STATES, AS WELL AS THE CENTER FOR SCIENCE IN THE PUBLIC INTEREST.
SOUNDBITE (English) Laura MacCleery, Policy Director, Center for Science in the Public Interest:
"We think that it harms kids, in short. We had this huge achievement, which is what the Congress told the U.S. Department of Agriculture - to write rules that would be better for kids' health, for the school meal lunch and breakfast programs. These programs serve 30 million children, 22 million of whom are low-income."
SODIUM AND DAIRY STANDARDS ARE TARGETED, AS WELL.
SOUNDBITE (English) Laura MacCleery, Policy Director, Center for Science in the Public Interest:
"What the rollbacks mean is that kids will eat an extra six cups of salt over the time that they're in school. Six cups...That's a lot of sodium and we know that what they're already eating today is making them sick."
LAURA BENAVIDES RUNS THE BOSTON PUBLIC SCHOOLS FOOD AND NUTRITIONAL SERVICES.
SHE SAYS IT WILL CONTINUE TO FOLLOW THE STRICTER STANDARDS.
SOUNDBITE (English) Laura Benavides, Executive Director of Boston Public Schools' Food and Nutritional Services:
"I think because we are in the business of education, and educating our children is not only what they learn in the classroom, it's what they learn in the cafeteria and we want them to be really good eaters."
NATS
AND THAT'S GOOD NEWS FOR HEALTH-CONSCIOUS KIDS LIKE AZARAH TILLET.
SOUNDBITE (English) Azarah Tillet, Fifth grader at Charles H. Taylor Elementary School in Boston:
"I love the school lunch because before the lunch came in plastic containers but now they make it fresh every day and it tastes so much better."
THE AMERICAN HEART ASSOCIATION HAS ALSO CRITICIZED THE DECISION AND IS CALLING ON SCHOOL DISTRICTS TO STICK TO THE PREVIOUS STANDARDS.
VANESSA ALVAREZ_THE ASSOCIATED PRESS.
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