A week ago, the U.S. Congress passed an omnibus spending bill that included a provision rolling back new requirements for whole grains in schools. Now, instead of requiring that all grain foods served in schools must be “whole grain-rich,” schools are okay if only half of their grain foods meet the “whole grain-rich” standard.

“Whole grain-rich” means that at least half the grains in a product are whole grain – so the new law requires ½ x ½ — in other words, ¼ — of the grains kids eat in school to be whole grains. That’s despite the fact that the US Dietary Guidelines have, since 2005, called for at least half of our grains to be whole grains – and Federal law (7 USC Sec. 5341) states that the Dietary Guidelines “shall be promoted by each Federal agency in carrying out any Federal food, nutrition, or health program.” Yet here we are, nine years after this change in the Dietary Guidelines, and a small minority of very vocal school districts have said that they need more time to move to whole grains.

We’re disheartened that Congress threw our kids under the bus. According to a June 2014 report from the USDA, 90% of US schools were already complying with the first stage of the new rules, and only 0.15% of schools had dropped out of the Federal school lunch program. Although the current leadership of the School Nutrition Association (SNA) lobbied for the rollback, nineteen past presidents of the SNA signed a letter urging Congress to stick with the new standards.

It’s a pity that partisan politics trumped acting in the best interests of children’s health. Yet despite the hurdles, the nation’s finest school food directors are moving forward instead of backward.

Today I read a report from a school food director in Missouri, who reports things are going fine now, and participation is up. Jill Poepsi said the number of meals sold dipped initially when her district changed to healthier choices, but quickly climbed back up after they started offering seconds and thirds on fruits and vegetables to kids who said they were still hungry. “We offer three to five different fruits and veggies a day,“ said Poepsi, “so really no child should be saying they couldn’t find something they like.” Districts like Popesi’s won’t be turning back.

Nor will the Boston and Cambridge MA schools, thanks to great leadership from Samantha Weiss Kimball and Mellissa Honeywood, a dynamic duo who spoke at our recent Whole Grains Breaking Barriers conference in Boston last month. (See a video of their talk here.) Melissa summed up the resolve of talented school food directors everywhere when she said,

“If we don’t give kids an opportunity to try new healthy things – they will never try new healthy things. If you don’t give them a chance to experience that, then that’s a fault on us, it’s not a fault on the kids because we never gave them the benefit of the doubt, we never gave them a chance to try something new. We are deciding for them that it’s too difficult. We are deciding for them that they won’t like it. Give them a chance.  You will see the changes in the students.”

Amen. Support your local schools and the courageous leaders who are determined not to compromise where kids are concerned, but who will stick to their guns and make sure students get healthy whole grains in the school cafeteria. (Cynthia)