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Collins urges regulators to rethink school lunch standards
Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) wants federal regulators to set new standards for public school lunches based on how food is prepared rather than the ingredients used.
The request aims to help potatoes, peas and other starchy vegetables retain their prime spot on the school lunch menu in the face of proposed regulations limiting servings to two servings a week starting next fall. Defenders of the new standards say they will offer students a balanced, science-based diet, but many lawmakers have vowed to protect popular — and heavily lobbied — foods.
"The fact is that French fries are a problem but potatoes are not," Collins said Wednesday during the Senate Appropriations Committee's markup of its agricultural spending bill. "I don't know what (Agriculture) Secretary (Tom) Vilsack has against potatoes, but I'm going to invite him to northern Maine for a nice feast."
Margo Wootan, the director of nutrition policy at the Center for Science in the Public Interest, said there's nothing wrong with potatoes, per se, but starchy vegetables have become too popular with children and crowd out other offerings.
"It's about limiting them to give other vegetables a chance," she said of the proposed standards. "Each vegetable has its own nutrient profile, and kids need a lot of different kinds of vegetables."
Collins said she's partnering with Sen. Mark Udall (D-Colo.) and other lawmakers of both parties to seek legislation changing the nutrition standards. Collins and Udall spearheaded a letter to the top Democrat and Republican on the agricultural appropriations panel last month to include language in their spending bill that would preclude any funds being used to implement standards that "unnecessarily discriminate against certain vegetables, including white potatoes, corn, lima beans, and green peas."
Sens. John Hoeven (R-N.D.), Kelly Ayotte (R-N.H.), Olympia Snowe (R-Maine), Jim Risch (R-Idaho), Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) also signed on.
That language didn't end up being included, but Collins vowed to continue the fight on the Senate floor. House appropriators on the other hand included language in their agriculture spending bill urging regulators to start over on the standards.
Separately, Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) said she'd introduce legislations barring the FDA from approving genetically modified fish. The move was sparked by commercial fishermen's concerns that such an approval could undermine the value of wild-caught salmon.
