Transcripts For CSPAN2 School Lunch Programs 20140813 : vima

All parts of the economy and political in social life that when you do that to control everything then you create a position in every where if you tell all artists to paint the same way and one says i want to pay another way did you have just made him into a political dissident did you want to subsidize housing in this country and to talk about it as something to subsidize then put on the Balance Sheet to make it clear and evident to make everybody aware of how much it cost the when you deliver after the third Party Enterprises like fannie mae or freddie mac the subsidy comes through a Public Company with private shareholders they extract a lot of the subsidy for themselves that is not a very good way to subsidize home ownership. According to the centers for Disease Control Childhood Obesity has more than doubled and quadrupled in the past 30 years. Up next the Senate Agricultural for a stray committee looks at School Programs across the u. S. The witnesses include a School Nutrition experts including the president elect of the Nutrition Association who discusses the purchasing, procurement and preparation of school meals this is just over two hours ]]o we are going to make this a weekly effort and i know that senator leahy intends to come out here brought us some pumpkin squares that we have from the school menu in vermont. Weve tasted one. Its absolutely delicious. From bob casey we have mushroom and meatballs and these are also great. I feel like im o i am on the fd channel right now. [laughter] but these are also. We thank senator casey who will be joining us and they will talk to us about what a habakkuk looks like. Weve got some apple slices so we are here for the duration. We can last a while this morning. And not to offend my wonderful cafeteria folks that we didnt eat like this when i was in school. This is very Delicious Food this morning. So, we are very appreciative of everyone being here for the second iran child nutrition and being able to talk to those who are working hard to make things happen for our children. Let me just start by saying what we all know that according for the centers for Disease Control, obesity in Young Children has more than doubled in the last 30 years. Thats why this discussion is so important. And its grown more than four times higher for teenagers in the same timeframe. Thats why we are involved and we care and why this is a priority. Thats why one in three children as either overweight or obese. And as a country we spend one out of every five healthcare dollars treating obesity related illnesses every year. And the first hearing on this issue we heard jarring testimony from the military general that 75 of the youth cannot qualify for military service. 75 . So if we can turn a corner in the country by offering healthy food choices and by teaching Healthy Eating habits, we will not only improve the health of our children. The full administrators and professional parents, Community Leaders are meeting the needs of our children every day by working together to serve healthy meals. We heard the jokes about school meals and going about the official sticks and mystery need to talk those and cafeterias for the deep fryers and i know that those are gone in detroit and in those days i know are over. I had the opportunity to visit many schools all across michigan. And ive been very impressed to see Elementary School students enjoying broccoli and pineapples from salad bars an and Students Learning about where food comes from in the farm to School Efforts that are very exciting. Of the schools are installing salad bars and lowfat turkey burgers and burritos packed with vegetables and whole grains. Schools are encouraging shogren to eat healthier by showing them that healthy can taste good, too. In some cases they are not only enjoying the food at school but are beginning to ask for it up at home. Ive talked to local grocers who have different days have said they run out of different vegetables or food and od owned a friend headset day ran afoul of different vegetables or fruits and cannot figure out what was going on but i figured out that was the day it was served as cooley of the kids gonr home and ask the parents to buy it at night. Interesting. It is some important talking about Childhood Obesity. We can only make these important changes in our friends and partners in the Food Industry and agriculture state and federal agencies and cafeterias and classrooms all work together. Today we will hear how schools provide the foundation meals every day like many ingredients does represent a key ingredient of the challenge of feed the nations children. It is not an easy task but the coal to reduce hogger is important. Instead may look forward to how we can work together. To debut will examine the challenges to provide access to a Healthy Foods and what solutions are there to address many of these concerns. Said l i will turn to my distinguished Ranking Member and friend for his opening remarks. They give madam chairman we appreciate the attendance of all who were here today especially pleased we have two witnesses on the panel from mississippi to discuss the programs and others that are related to our interests of federal support that increase efficiency and provide benefits for physical soundness that we need in our country i think we can continue to improve the federal role in this hearing also has the purpose with ways to improve sees programs so there should be local flexibility to accommodate commonsense conservancy administrators up local level suggestions for changes of the of legislation to support of programs is welcome we appreciate your participation with this endeavor. E here so we are going to introduce the members. Certainly if you want to add the appropriate place to introduce the members and guests we certainly want you to do that. The Food Services for the detroit blc which provides meals to 55,000 students every day. Today she has of the district develop 77 school gardens. I have not seen all of them, but i have seen a number of them. They are throughout the city proposed supported by the School Program and improved the local community by serving mentally processed and locally produced food whenever possible. Joint detroit Public Schools in 2000, the chief of Foodservice Administration for Public Schools in washington d. C. Lets share of the local food association, and National Trade group for local businesses that works to increase Market Access and market share for both selled commercial buyers of food. And now i will turn to senator senator cochran to introduce our next witness, mr. Scott thomas. Madam chairman, it is my pleasure to present mr. Scott clamans, director of the office of child attrition and help the schools the Mississippi Department of education in mississippi in his role he administers a federal nutrition programs, including the National School lunch, School Breakfast, foodservice and child food programs. In addition his office terex several School Related health programs. He has 14 years of experience in child nutrition, of a past president of the Mississippi School of Nutrition Association and has served on the usda child nutrition state systems working group. Do i also introduce dr. Wilson . You are welcome to. Catherine wilson is the executive director of the National Food Service Management institute at the university of mississippi in oxford. She serves as a sissy director im sorry. She serves as associate professor at the university as well. She holds numerous academic degrees. She has 23 years of experience as a school the attrition director. She has also served as the president of the School Nutrition association. I am pleased both of you could be here today to help us review the proposals for legislation on nutrition programs administered by the federal government. Thank you very much. Next we are very pleased to have president of the School Nutrition association for 2014 15 school year. Also the director of school and Community Nutrition programs at Jefferson County Public Schools in kentucky where meals to 100,000 students are served in 144 schools. After joining the School District she was a Sales Manager for three different food manufacturers. Nabisco, Campbells Soup Company and h. J. Since joining the district in 1994 she has overseen the development of a central kitchen and has leveraged the community by enlisting the help of a local professional chef to develop recipes. Finally, we are pleased to have filled the air with us, the president and ceo. He oversees his family produce business that began in 1850. You dont look at all actually. [laughter] that is pretty good. Based in salt lake city, utah serving the entire state of utah and parts of idaho and wyoming. His clients include k12 schools and universities, casual and fine dining restaurants. He serves on the nutrition and Health Council of the united fresh foundation. In 2007 he served as chairman of proactive, americas leading distributor of Fresh Produce to the foodservice industry. So welcome to all of you. Let me remind you that we do ask you to limit your comments to five minutes. We welcome any other written testimony and information you would like to give us, but in the interest of time and we actually have a vote at 11 00, so we want to make sure we have ample time to ask questions. We will start with ms. Wiggins. Welcome. Chairman k9, senator cochran, hon. Members of the committee, i am honored to be with you here today to address what i believe to be a topic of fundamental importance to all of us, the health and wellbeing of americas children. As we all know, the cafeteria lines there are only Young Americans who we are all privileged to serve. I am grateful to the chairwoman and the Ranking Member for the collaborative and constructive tone of this committees deliberations on this important issue. The issue. The trials and tribulationsin in that district with declining enrollment and multiple facility closures i have a great pleasure of supervising the division of high quality meals to approximately 50,000 children. 0e children. Most eager breakfast and lunch with us and also eat supper within our facilities. Our work makes it a critical positive difference in their lives in the community. We were the first School District in the country to make this available supported by several studies have demonstrated a direct correlation to. We offer suppers for atrisk students. In the troy, we warmly welcome the higher nutrition standards of the 2010 healthy and hunger freeic the legislation resulting legislation has prompted us to institute changes in the lives of our children and employees. The improved nutrition standards provide a framework to support several other provisions and legislation including additional training opportunities for School Nutrition staff and equipment and purchasing assistance. It is the improved nutrition standards that have allowed us to introduce new equipment in the kitchens. Produce washers, salad bars, vegetables steamers, warning stations, convection ovens are the new norm. Yes, senator stabenow, deep fat fryers are obsolete. We see it as a necessity as and Lifelong Health and wellbeing of our children. In addition to new equipment our Food Distribution partners are finding the products we need to provide our children the quality food that they need and deserve. We have found food manufacturers become determined to meet our improve emissions standards, Food Companies of all sizes developing innovations designed to help us meet the new regulatory requirements. All of this change is enabling us to be more effective in serving the nutrition needs of our children. 87 percent of our children in detroit are eligible for free schools meals. I have discovered that under an out nutrition is not in fact, food and security is as common among children from the end of the culdesac as it is among the urban streetcorners. The Community Eligibility provision or c ip option allows schools to provide breakfast and lunch to all students. They provide benefits to reduce the Administrative Burden resulting from elimination of the paper applications and the increased petition participation rates and the economies of sca scale. Improving the overall Financial Stability of our School Programs as you are likely aware 4,000 schools in the state are now participating. The work of you and your committee, chairwoman stabenow is making a critical positive difference in the lives of tens of thousands of detroits children each and every day. Each of you know far better than i do think usda funding is all about improving the Economic Conditions of rural america. One of my greatest joys and another direct benefit of improving the nutrition standards have been increasi the increasing our purchasing of michigan groan some products. The nations only trade association for buyers to sellers, we have produced sustainable and local food. I am motivated to do my part to increase the market share of local farmers. Our program has reached reduced partnerships. Generating healthy returns for them and their children. Feeding fresh asparagus to teenagers, and they like it. Increasing exposure to fresh foods trending lifelong habits that will improve health. In addition to fresh fruit and vegetables from nearby farms we also have additional benefits of delivering Educational Opportunities in the cafeteria, the classroom by participating farmers. In 2012 Community Partners initiated an effort to bring gardens to the schools. Access to real life laboratories to teach children about health, eating, nutrition and increasing access to fresh fruits and vegetables. Each features are raised garden bed built by children and access thereby having access to fresh fruits and vegetables. Th. The Learning Centers now have 71 schools and gardens and a two and a Half Acre School farm and bigotry established. We are also engaged in the development of the project which is the repurposing of a Close High School site. In conclusion our recent shared progress towards improving the School Nutrition programs represent a solid value for the position for the nation. As leaders responsible to the fe wellbeing of children whether we are parents in congress and the school of attrition officials and food business in the usda we must focus away from the process of change and instead emphasize the progress and able to play thes enabled bw policies. Institutional change is difficult. It always takes time and includes shortterm discomfort. The investment prompted by an approved School Nutrition standards have and will continue to generate valuable returns. After the shortterm pains. Its highly desirable. The change work takes time. Nine out of ten School Districts across the country are already in compliance with the new standards and we are making it work and work well. Im confident they will do the same. Thank you for the opportunity to be with you, chairwoman stabenow and as a michigan resident. Thank you very much we are pleased to have you here today. We welcome you as well. Thank you very much. Chairwoman stabenow, Ranking Member cochran, members of the committee and the director of the office of Healthy Schools and also child Nutrition Education. On behalf of the superintendent the state board of education and our many thousands of Food Service Workers in mississippi thank you for the opportunity to speak with you today. I have a few initiatives i would like to discuss. First is the statewide cooperative and the first child nutrition statewide in the country. The project began in 1992 and as an effort to both lower the cost and simplify the procurement for the local School Districts. The majority of the School Dis