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Statement

Moms Group Slams Trump Administration Plan to Scale-Back Obama-Era School Lunch Nutritional Requirement

May 3, 2017
Youth & Family Justice

Lisa Lederer, 202-371-1996

“The Trump Administration is effectively selling out our kids to big-monied interests that want to pump our kids full of cheap, processed foods.”
WASHINGTON DC -- Earlier this week, Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue signed a proclamation that weakens Obama-era healthy school lunch standards. The standards are part of the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010 and were advocated by Michelle Obama’s “Let’s Move” campaign. For the last five years, schools have worked hard to reduce the calories, fat and sodium in their cafeteria meals, and must increase the amount of whole grains, fruits and vegetables, and nonfat milk offerings to students. With great success, over 99 percent of schools are already meeting the standards. 
 
In reaction to Perdue’s announcement, Monifa Bandele, Vice President of MomsRising, an online and on-the-ground organization of more than 1 million mothers and their families, issued the following statement:
 
“The Trump Administration’s outrageous plan to relax nutritional standards for school meals puts children’s health at risk. American school lunches were on their way to helping us shift away from unprecedented rates of nutrition-related diseases like type 2 diabetes. Now is not the time to fill our kids’ plates with more junk. It’s not just about breakfast or lunch: The Department of Agriculture’s announcement to weaken nutritional standards for kids—standards which improved the nutritional quality of school by 29 percent under the Obama administration and forced food and beverage companies to reformulate their products to be healthier and more nutritious—will have negative consequences for children’s performance in the classroom..
 
“The meals kids eat in school are critical to their growth and cognitive development, and for many children living in poverty, school meals provide  them with the bulk of their daily nutrition.
 
“By ending Obama-era healthy school lunch standards, the Trump Administration is effectively selling out our kids to big-monied interests that want to pump our kids full of cheap, processed foods.. This is unacceptable and we will fight to defend the rights of children to access healthy, nutritious school meals. 
 
For more information, or for interview with MomsRising, please contact Emily Hecker at 202-371-1999 or by email at emily@prsolutionsdc.com.
 

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MomsRising.org is an on-the-ground and online grassroots organization of more than a million people who are working to increase family economic security, decrease discrimination against women and moms, and to build a nation where businesses and families can thrive. Established in 2006, MomsRising and its members are organizing and speaking out to improve public policy and to change the national dialogue on issues that are critically important to America’s families, including criminal justice reform, immigration policy reform, and gun safety. MomsRising is working for paid family and medical leave, affordable, high quality childcare and early learning, and for an end to the wage and hiring discrimination which penalizes women — particularly moms and women of color — and so many others. MomsRising advocates for access to healthy food for all kids, health care for all, earned sick days, and breastfeeding rights so that all children can have a healthy start. MomsRising maintains a Spanish language website: MamásConPoder.org. Sign up online at www.MomsRising.org — and follow us on our blog, and on Twitter and Facebook.