WASHINGTON—When Congress returns next week from its recess, it will have to decide whether to reauthorize the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act, passed in December 2010. Administered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the law established critical programs that provide meals and nutritional support to children. These include school breakfasts and lunches, summer meals, and the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC).
U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack spoke at the Center for American Progress, a Washington, D.C., liberal think tank, on Sept. 1, to promote the programs and explain some initiatives his department has been undertaking to expand them.
“Seventy-six percent of American teachers report that children come to school hungry,” Vilsack said. “If we are going to expect them to be at their best in terms of educational achievement, we want to make sure that they are well fed at school,” he added.
But alleviating hunger is by no means the only reason for the existence of these programs. Healthier meals are also important for children’s health and for reducing child obesity or risk of obesity, which has grown to nearly 30 percent. The programs for school lunches and breakfasts contain regulations for limiting sugar, fat, and sodium, and including fruits and veggies, low-fat dairy, and whole grains. The USDA states, “The new standards align school meals with the latest nutrition science.”
Vilsack has partnered with first lady Michelle Obama in her Let’s Move initiative.
