Time to Say Goodbye to Michelle Obama’s School Lunches
Kids will eat if the food’s good.
Easy come, easy go. Former First Lady Michelle Obama made much of her “Let’s Move” initiative to get kids to exercise and eat healthier. Part of that push was allegedly better food choices for school lunches. Now, we’ll be the first to say that kids should eat right and exercise. But Michelle’s nanny state was going about it all wrong, and the kids rebelled. As we reported in 2014, according to the School Nutrition Association, “The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) estimates that [Obama’s] new school meal standards will force local school districts and states to absorb $1.22 billion in new food, labor and administrative costs in Fiscal Year 2015 alone, up from $362 million in additional costs in FY 2014.” Upon discovering that kids would rather dump their health “food” in the garbage than eat such swill, schools around the nation dropped the program. No use spending all that money and effort just to have the food end up in a landfill.
Now, the School Nutrition Association is recommending that Donald Trump dump the entire program in the landfill of failed Obama policies. “Overly prescriptive regulations have resulted in unintended consequences,” the SNA said, “including reduced student lunch participation, higher costs and food waste. Federal nutrition standards should be modified to help school menu planners manage these challenges and prepare nutritious meals that appeal to diverse student tastes.” Brief translation: Make school lunch great again.