[Vision2020] Care About Healthy School Nutrition for Our Children?

[Saundra Lund]

If so, then I urge you to contact Mr. Robert M. Eadie, Policy and Program
Planning Branch Chief for the USDA to encourage that vegetarian meals and
non-dairy beverage options be incorporated into The Child Nutrition Act
revisions currently being drafted.

You can contact Mr. Eadie by letter, fax, or email at:

Mr. Robert M. Eadie, Policy and Program Planning Branch Chief
U.S. Department of Agriculture, Food and Nutrition Service
3101 Park Center Drive, Room 640
Alexandria, VA 22302-1594
E-mail: robert.eadie at fns.usda.gov
Fax: (703) 305-2879

You can learn more about what we can do to provide healthy meal options in
our schools at:
http://www.healthyschoollunches.org/

For those who don't want to have to reinvent the wheel, below is a copy of
our letter:

Dear Mr. Eadie,

Although neither of us are vegetarian, our daughter took the "Pledge to be
Veg" when she was in the seventh grade.  She graduated from high school in
June, and she remained vegetarian in spite of the challenges school
breakfasts and lunches provided throughout the years.  And, out of the group
of friends who took the Pledge, all 11 of them remain vegetarian today.

Many children do not consume animal products due to ethical, religious, or
health reasons.  Children of color are especially likely to need an
alternative to regular cow's milk, due to lactose intolerance.  It is
***essential*** that the National School Lunch Program accommodate all
students!  The American Medical Association and American Public Health
Association already support efforts to provide vegetables, fruits, legumes,
grains, vegetarian foods, and healthful nondairy beverages in school lunches
and food assistance programs.

We ask the USDA to include these items when the Child Nutrition Act is
reauthorized next year:
-  Nondairy beverage alternatives should be available and reimbursable
without a note wherever cow's milk is provided.  Offering all students a
nutritious nondairy beverage will reduce saturated fat consumption and
increase overall program participation. 

-- Vegetarian meal options should be available every day, as trailblazing
states such as California, Florida, Hawaii, and New York have already
recommended.  Whether a student consumes a vegetarian diet or chooses an
occasional vegetarian meal, experts agree that plant-based foods are healthy
choices for all children.

-- Nondairy vegetarian commodity foods should be readily available to
schools.  The USDA should provide schools with more fresh fruits and
vegetables and plant-based entrées to help meet the demand for these
healthful foods.   The USDA and Congress should shift federal subsidies so
that they support child health rather than agricultural interests.

We join the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, the American
Medical Association, and the American Public Health Association in asking
the USDA to provide healthful vegetarian foods including vegetables, fruits,
legumes, grains, and nutritious nondairy beverages in schools.  Increasing
access to low-fat, cholesterol-free, vegetarian foods will help mitigate the
rising prevalence of obesity and other chronic diseases.


Sincerely,
Saundra & Bill Lund
<snip>
_____

Saundra Lund
Moscow, ID

Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.
~ Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.