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 ControlChildhood 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 FoodService 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 CountyPublic 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 Districts in mississippi have a very small number of schools and many of these are rural. Both the prices and a delivery y fees were high due to the limited buying power of the small districts. However by pulling together the buying power of almost every school in the state we are able to utilize the economies of scale in here and with the volume of purchasing. This allows us to provide significant savings to the mortgage organizations. Our Office Issues this for food and related and in excess of 130 million per year. Due to the high volume of purchases we are able to negotiate the prices directly with manufacturers and sometimes we are able to reduce the cost even further by having the delivery status associated with that. The hundred 83 organizations with almost a thousand delivery sites. The majority of the purpose of getting organizations are Public Schools and we have all but two of the School Districts in the state participating and we have a number of head start and governmental agencies who are also participating in the School Lunch Program. We are not allowed to use this defense defense fund to support the program unfortunately. Instead of the cooperative is selffunded anselffunded into e participants about half of a penny per lunch served to pay for the staff to travel and Office Supply associated in the program. The donated goods annually through the purchasing cooperative we already have a statewide Delivery System in place so we are able to further reduce the cost for the participating organizations by having those delivered by the same manufacturers and brokers. We also made use of the buying g public is tradition at work of the cooperatives to support the schools at the state level. Even though mississippi is an agriculturalbased state but challenges remain in the School Programs. Many of the states most abundant crops, soybeans cannot go to the cafeteria table. Then we have many to have harvest during the Summer Season when school is not in session. We worked together with the department of defense and the Mississippi Department of agriculture since 2002 to bring locally grown products to schools throughout the state. In 14 perco 15 we will have a Million Dollars worth of locally grown produce delivered through the office. Another was to assist the schools in meeting the sodium requirement. When first announced the product simply did not exist to make it available for schools to meet the sodium requirement and still have nutritious and appetizing meals to maintain precipitation. The backbone of the cooperative and played a role and we were able to partner with hf from the Culinary Institute and the national manufacture. They produced a low spice blend we have three of them available now. And those are now available to schools throughout the United States. We also supply schools with 50 recipes to incorporate to reduce sodium in the school meals. I would like to talk about the School Recipes and menus since 1996 mississippi has provided the mississippi cycles and it was a program coordinated program of the sample menus and recipes that was updated in 2005 with a healthy act of 2010 system no longer works. The planning was more complex so we put together a task force to create the mississippi recipe for success. We have standardized menus, we have an Online Program that is available to any school in the country that would like to participate. And this was all in response to the complex menu planning that we felt like our Small Schools just did not have the resources to implement by themselves. With the purchasing cooperative we have standardized ingredients across the board for almost all of our schools in mississippi and thats been a benefit to us when it comes to the administrative review which are more frequent now than theyve been bit by having all of this piece togethethosepiece together process and makes it possible to meet those new standards. Thank you again for the opportunity to appear before the committee and i would be pleased to answer any questions or provide additional information. Thank you. Thank you very much. We are so glad you are here. Thank you chairman stabenow, Ranking Member cochran and members of the committee on behalf of the 55,000 members of the School Nutrition association thank you for the opportunity to discuss our shared goal of strengthening americas child attrition programs. School nutrition professionals recognize the importance of Healthy School meals to the academic success of american students. Thats why we have expanded our School Breakfast options to increase the summer feeding sites, launch new programs and are taking advantage of the new Community Eligibility provisions. We have worked diligently to improve the nutrition of the school menus and we support most of the new regulations. We are increasing the serving size and variety of the fruit and vegetables we offer something more whole grains and meeting the limits on calories and fat while reducing sodium. We are also making healthy choices more appealing to students and a steadily increasing the quantity of local food we serve. School nutrition professionals are truly committed to the healthy under act and the goal of expanding access to school meals and that is why we are so concerned about the historical decline in the Student Lounge participation. The National SchoolLunch Program has grown steadily and according to a usda under the requirements for student participation is abruptly down in 49 states. More than 1 Million Students choose school lunch each day even though student enrollment and participating schools increased by 1. 2 million last year. Weve witnessed 15 decline in the paid meal participation. If the trend continues the School Cafeteria will no longer be a place where all students dying and learn Healthy Habits together but rather a place where students must go to get their free lunch. They struggle with new menu options. Many have been challenged to find wholegrain rich tortillas, crackers and other specialty items that appeal to students. They complained that they are burned or tasted strange and indeed these whole grains to have a different texture and flavor than what the students might find at home or in their favorite restaurant. They meet all of the standards and tastes. At the eligibility also face unique challenges under the standards of the family paid meal participation declines. Some schools are dropping out of the program rather than having tto meet the cost of the requirements. Most School Districts however rely on the National SchoolLunch Program reimbursement and do not have the option or desire to leave the program. The School NutritionAssociation Found that in 2012 and 2013 school year, 47 of the School Meal Programs reported revenue declined while more than nine out of ten reported to the cost were up. With the federal reimbursement rate for serving the free lunch over 3, schools are required to serve Healthy School meals for less than most people pay for their morning coffee. They leave a little more than a dollar on each lunch train. Over the last year the reimbursement Rate Adjustment for the coming school year was actually smaller than the Previous School year. In my district each would cost me a nickel more this school year exceeding the increase for breakfast. Although we appreciate every penny received this adjustment comes nowhere close to covering the cost of the schools face now that they must double the amount of breakfast up to a full cup. Students must take a fruit or vegetable whether they intend to keep it or not. We watched the despair as much as it is costly produce ends up in the trash 684 million per year according to Cornell University researchers. As the schools struggle to manage the cost and waste once was a problem for the meal programs is rapidly becoming a problem for School Districts. We cannot carry over the annual losses so they have to pick up the tab. Financial instability in the meal program can cut into the district educational funds. This full schools face more challenges as they were to meet more snacks in school rules. While many requirements are open changes, some of the programs have had to strip the Healthy Options from their menus because its direct sodium and enclosing i ask that the associations 55,000 members continue to be part of the ongoing discussion as members of the Committee Draft reauthorization language. Thank you again for inviting me and im happy to answer any questions. We certainly intend to have you involved all the way along. Im doctor cady wells and the executive director of the National FoodService Management institute at the university of mississippi in oxford mississippi. I appreciate the opportunity to share outreach with you today. We are meeting in the School Meal Program and the School Meal Programs are not only a key part of the vital Health Safety net for the nations children as a School Nutrition director of wisconsin for 23 years i believe they are the best safety net for the children. The benefit is in the form of food and the child has access to that food. The School Meal Programs should also serve as learning tools educating children but a healthy meal looks like. We operate in the education arena for the school meals must be part of that process. As a country we have a serious problem with obesity its simply overwhelming to think about the health of the future. Yet at the same time each of us in the hearing room is struggling to balance our idea of what a school meal should consist out an of and under what guidance it should operate. In the learning exchange in the United Kingdom might come to learn that School NutritionStandards Institute throughout the uk years ago are still actively progressing the health and wellbeing of students created a way to tell you it isnt easy and it takes time for students to accept them but its in the interest of national wellness. Theyve begun to see a decrease along with other positive outcomes. Lindsey graham from the uk is here in the audience today is a fellow from the Winston Churchill memorial trust. She can lend more details after the hearing if theres interest. The strong federal support for the programs in the United States is of interest to the colleagues in the United Kingdom. One of the areas are the numerous Resources Available from the National FoodService Management institute also known as the institute. These resources are available free of charge to assist everyone throughout the United States involved in providing meals to children using the Federal School meals program. The institute is the only federally funded National Center dedicated to assisting child attrition professionals and in improving the quality and operation of child nutrition programs copyright by congress under section 21 of the Richard RussellNational School lunch act it is funded by the department of agriculture and other outside foundations. A training and assistanctrainins available in a variety of formats. We have the topics on handson culinary training Financial Management inventory control and meal pattern training available in the facetoface format for approximately 200 plus trainers organized as the regional training teams throughout the usda region weve provided facetoface training for the professionals throughout the United States and its territories. I got the numbers for this year its well over 8,000 facetoface trainings that over. One specific example including the healthy closin closing its y class a twoday training taught by a chef and a registered dietitian if offered whenever a state Nutrition Association or state Agency Requests it. In mississippi the state Agency Organized eight of the classes with 240 total participants in the state and the two months ago. In california they organized over ten of the culinary classes throughout the estate with 350 total participants all funded either by outside foundations or the usda grantdmn these are handson classs offerings glow nutrition professionals the opportunity to learn new culinary skills or refresh the ones they already have. All other facetoface topics are available in the same manner all of our curriculum for these trainees are available to Download Free of charge for districts to use within the wrong time frame and convenience in an easytouse manner. Many videos are available for download and use in school and child care as well. Anywhere from six to 20 minute videos on very specific topics. We have many of these trainings available on line from how to best use usda food, nutrition oneonone, and others. There are over 40 topics of online courses easy to access from your computer or tablet free of charge. Participants can start and stop them at their convenience, and a certificate of completion comes up after the participant completes the course and passes a quiz with a 70 learning rate. 201213 over 33,000 participants registered and completed online courses through the institute. We are again looking at exceeding this number as we compile our 201314 report all available free of charge. Individual Technical Assistance is available free of charge. We hire a consultant based on the area needed and go in and help the district come into compliance. We recently worked in two districts in kansas and are presently working with new york city with personal Technical Assistance. These again are all free of charge. Madame chair, school meals have become a focus point for many. The institute and many other organizations provide greater resources for school the treasured professionals as the work today work to ensure high quality and nutritious meals are being served. It has become more and more challenging. It is important to realize what our job is. A child will learn lifelong eating habits during their school. In closing, i would like to thank the senate for its lead in providing this hearing and your commitment to our children and child nutrition programs. Im happy to answer any questions. Thank you very much. Welcome. Were glad to have you. Thank you. Good morning. My name is philip miller, i am president and ceo. Thank you for inviting me here today and for calling attention to the critical issue of School Attrition. I am passionate about making a difference in the nutrition of our school age children. We are a food Service Problems produce distributor that provides fresh fruit and vegetables to 52 rural and urban School Districts in utah, idaho, and western wyoming with the total enrollment of 450,000 students. We are the usda dot french prime vendor for schools and three indian reservations in three states. States. We have the fresh vegetable program, School Agenda the summer feeding programs. Schools are up 15 of the company revenue. The number of proactive llc which is a cooperative of the 70 produced us to bidders across north america to leverage the purchasing power together to make the most Price Effective quality assured food safe purchases possible. We are also a member of the united Fresh Produce association, and i serve on its nutrition and healthcncil we have a saying at Copper Canyon farms. Our School Customers deserve the best. Success to rest his students eating more fresh fruits and vegetables, going him and telling their parents about the new fruits and vegetables theyve tried at school and then helping to improve their families eating habits. We consider ourselves more than a supplier or bid winner. We are a partner with their School Customers. Ours goal is to be a Solution Provider through training and consultation assisting schools to successfully implement all the new fruit and vegetable requirements. Our staff visit our School Customers throughout the school year to discuss the new fruit and vegetable items available, seasonality, buying local produce and getting the best value for their limited budgets. We provide schools with our Fresh Produce standards and handling guide as a training tool and provide schools with special training workshops Nutrition Education materials, farmer bios and participate in district kickoff events. This is a collaborative relationship. A high latitude example for the fresh fruit of vestal program, we work with schools to lower the able packaging costs while providing with a high variety of fresh fruits and vegetables individually portioned in an system easy to deliver to the classroom. In june we demonstrated how schools could grow fresh vegetables and bite sizes. When one attendee said we dont have growth on our school, this is not really saying, we showed them how the same result could be achieved using the school evidence. We have introduced new dark green leafy salad mixes to her schools that are more appealing, nutrient dense and cost effective. From our experience, there are a few key points i want to make. Schools that were proactive in improving the helpfulness of their school meals early on and make incremental changes and offer Nutrition Education are not having problems are experiencing an increase. Successful Elementary Schools to qualify for fresh brewed investable programs have previously introduced their students to a wide variety of fresh birds imaginable as part of their Lunch Program. Students eat fresh fruits and vegetables when they are served in rate tasting fruits and vegetables presented in an appetizing manner. The dietary guidelines for americans calls for children and adults to make off with a plate fruits and vegetables of every meal. How can you call the School Breakfast or School Lunches neolithic doesnt include at least a half cup of fruits or vegetables. After all, it is only a half cup cornmeal. We stand it to successfully implement a new fruit industrial requirements. Just last week, myself another produce distributors, growers, freshcut processors and united fresh post association hosted a Fresh Produce civilian at the School NutritionAssociations Annual convention in boston. Hundreds of school through serous directors came to our ask the expert produced Solution Center to ask questions about breaking produce rfps and to talk about how they could produce procure more fresh fruits and vegetables. We also presented to educational workshop sessions on the subjects all in an effort to assist the School Nutrition community. We strongly support the continued implementation of the healthy hunger free kit that of 2010 and maintains the requirements for School Children have access to a wide variety of colorful fruits and vegetables and select a half cup of further vegetable at each meal. This is about improving the health of americas children. Thank you or the opportunity to speak here today and im happy to answer any questions. Thank you. Thank you very much to all of you for your very important testimony. I make it into the questions. I have a lot of questions and we dont have a lot of time, so i will ask everyone to be brief so we can getting as many as we can. I know theres a lot to say. Betty, and this weekend, let me start with you because we hear a lot of concern about the difficulty with getting students to accept new Healthy Foods. I just think back to myself and my kids were in school and helping us go up and down in new fruit come in and takes time to change and certainly we all know change can be a challenge, even our own lives. But he says students are really enjoying the food, particularly the produce in detroit. So i am wondering what you are doing differently that is helping to dense to want to eat to be fruits and vegetables. We did in detroit. On the 2010 health and hunger free act was passed i didnt wait until 2014 before i started. In detroit weve got to do things early because of the stronger administrator standards that this guy was going to happen a cancer reviewer program. So we use things like the fresh for the vegetable programmer reintroduce items to children. They can rock you date them in their natural state and then we put them on a menu. We also implemented flexibility that the usda provides u. S. The kids dont have to take all the items. They just have to leave the line with a cup of fruit. Budget permitting reintroduce started local food at a time. Being from michigan, and not faultless primary, so reintroduce topples in different varieties of apples. Then kindergartners then, fourthgraders now understand this is our Lunch Program. Fourthgraders men or eighthgraders now know this is what a school meal looks like industry. Eighthgraders now are 12th graders and hopefully when they go on a college they wouldve had the the experience of eating Healthy Foods. So it is really about constantly and continuously educating our children, putting items before them and using various resources people like the produce providers for department of education provided to us so that kids get used to seeing these items on their trays. Mr. Muir carmi talk about getting the best value for produce, reducing plate race, which we hear a lot of concerns about. Again, certainly my friends and once or twice myself things now. I do think that is new that kids do that. But could you talk about how youre working with Rural Communities to address the concerns and challenges raised . Yes, thank you that is a good question. As far as plate race, we do work closely with their School Districts to try and limit back. The best way to fight that is serving appropriate appetizing my fresh fruits and vegetables that someone actually wants to be. As far as rural schools are concerned, that is a particular challenge. As an example, we serve coatesville, wyoming, which is about 153 miles excuse me, about 180 miles from salt lake city. 127 families in our community, you would get fresh fruits and vegetables to their school every week. It takes effort and it takes effort on their part, but we have assisted them in the educational pieces so they can provide the same level of education and fresh fruit availability as urban schools do. That is one of sample. Another one of pinedale, wyoming. It is not easy to get sued. It is out in the middle of a beautiful country. It takes a ride on three separate tracks to get their, but we get produced there in a weekly basis to them, too. Produce can be distributed to rural schools, but it does take an extra effort either on organizations like mr. Clemons has mentioned are not sure the distributors providing educational materials to help underpin small School Districts. Thank you very much. Ms. Thatcher, i dont think timewise that will have a chance to get into the issuer want to, but maybe a second time, which is an issue of concern we need to talk about. I do one at this point to first of all congratulate you on your convention. Our staff as they are i know senator cochran and mine sounds like you had a great convention. I understand over 400 vendors participated. Congratulations on not then theyll demonstrate products that were compliant in order to participate all 400 had to demonstrate products that were compliant with the disc, lunch and competitive food requirements. Is that correct . Yes. We were very fortunate to have many of our industry supporters there to provide a variety of products. Again come industry has really set up to the plate to buy products that are the words sodium, Old Greenwich and we are very thankful for that. And my visits with reporters on the show floor i went straight to produce row to show them that many new products that produce vendors are offering us. Again, our members support the increased quantities of fruits and vegetables come at the varieties of fruits and vegetables, but many districts are struggling with the challenge of procuring those. You taught in the area serviced by mr. Muir are very fortunate. We are also concerned about the wasted what is going in the trash can and if students could choose if they like, how that money may not go in the trash can, but might be used for Nutrition Education, which is important getting children to change their eating habits. I understand. I think its a good step forward and i congratulate you in getting 400 vendors that have already adjusted their production capabilities to meet 100 whole grain risk sodium, competitive foods, fruits and vegetables. We need to continue to work with you, but i thought that was an impressive first step. But at this point turn to senator cochran. Timeshare, thank you are your leadership scheduling this hearing. We appreciate very much the participation of our panel of witnesses. I want to ask mr. Clemons, who is director of our office about the schools and child nutrition at the Michigan Department of education but his experience has been with use of tools such as the menu planner, which you have created at the state level to try to implement meal standards in schools throughout our stay. What has been your challenges or successes that you could share with the committee in the panel . Thank you, sir. I think the biggest success we have had this we decided in 2010 we came up with an aggressive training schedule and we provided in 2012 and again in 2013 regional sessions for all of our asset base so they can get training from our office. That has been critical for again are small School Districts to have the tools to implement the changes and of course like i said where i said where the online i said where the online tool now in the printed versions are coming to them. The challenges weve had unfortunately have and the complexity of the rules. The expression used in mississippi sometimes i am sure you appreciate this coming from hamas would you coming from home as we feel like were drinking from the firehose sometimes. There have been approximately 150 policy memos that have come out to verify the regulations since 2010 and that has been a very big challenge for us to one coming get those that are level and decide how we will implement and get the training out to the School Districts. Unfortunaunfortuna tely, we know our partners work very hard and we appreciate their efforts, but sometimes the guidance will come out very close to the implementation deadline. We may give it a few weeks or months before it has to be implemented for the school year and that is hard for us because react to make her training on what we think will be in place at the time we make our best effort they are the sometimes those policy memos will change at the last minute and printed without the extensions that come out. Theyve been very beneficial, but sometimes that the last minute it is hard for us to pick us to pay them what theyre purchasing cooperative. We have contracts in place sometimes here is an advantage to get the training outsourcing service administrators. Thank you. Thank you, not a chair. Senator brown. Thank you. This is an important discussion and i appreciate all five of you waiting in the way you have. The testimony from all five of you has shown us that history illustrates the change is always difficult. Use the term their shortterm pain, ms. Wiggins. I think we knowledge that, but i also think dr. Wilsons comments about this creates lifelike eating habits for young people as they become older people and how important older people and how important it is. So thank you for all you are doing to get through this and make such a change as these may foraker bono in the jakarta Public Schools and mr. Clemons you are doing in mississippi in the world doing. Thank you for that. A couple questions, first for dr. Wilson. A much briefly mentioned the experience of cincinnati Public Schools. Cincinnati was the First Big School system in the country that started the School Lunch Program that was not governmengovernmen tsubsidized in those days 115 or so years ago. Jessica shelley, the Food Service Director told us she sirs 50,000 meals a day. Shes made salad bars, increased participation to the breakfast program, which are students to feature appealing, healthy meals while finishing the 2012 school year with a significant profit. How to become a dr. Wilson, replicate that success in other bigcity School Districts for other School Districts generally . Thank you to the question. It can be replicated in the house and in many other districts as well. Jessica is another one that started early. She didnt wait for the deadline. Usda has a program called healthier School Challenge and its a voluntary program is started before the meal pattern was put into place. Many schools but not important tarted with the healthier School Challenge include Nutrition Education, physical education. The institute has a training class for that and so a lot of the schools have started early and got us rolling. They were able to do it. In my experience in wisconsin i left the district for years ago. Is that a small rural School District to start my program and pressures and vegetables come on we did is pretty mandatory you have to serve three colors appeared that is what my cokes were told to do an increase produce and fresh fruits and vegetables skyrocketed because it was served an appealing manner. We also hold a major training symposium ever year for reprint in the 40 largest districts in the country together and have these kinds of discussions. No finite in dallas, texas it is working very well. Los angeles is doing a good job. Theyre a really good moral models we can put out there. Theres also a website called healthy meals and all the states that mississippi doing these really great things that people can use because they were produced by state and federal dollars are on those websites. Kansas is another one that does phenomenal work in this way ahead of the game world as resources are available to everyone free of charge. Menus, ordering must, ordering less, not a purchase, procurement, is available. Thank you, dr. Wilson. Ms. Biggins, my wife and i about eight or nine months ago moved into the city of cleveland. The zip code we live and have the highest rates for three years running a few years ago, not in the last couple of years, the highest rates of foreclosure of any zip code in the United States so we know the challenges in urban areas in your city, my city. We have also seen cleveland is ranked in the top two or three of many cities, all cities in the country in terms of urban gardening. I was specifically interested in your comment that what you have done with urban garden name. Talk more about that and what the city School System has done with using Community Gardens in urban gardening generally. Translate this into what we can do in cleveland and others of us can do around the country in urban gardening, selling directly to the schools. Thank you for the question. One of the things that has been less positive, we a few stray Public Schools did not try to do it by ourselves. I reached out to numerous Community Partners. One of my best partners is the detroit Eastern Market who has access to farmers. I also reached out to Michigan State university, the best Agricultural College in the country. [laughter] i would agree with that. Yeah, i like you would. Through their extension, they provide with the applied agricole shoeless and farmers and provide me with information. So to that collaboration restarted the plan. We created something called the partners in the city that was engaged in that, taught our children to plants, educated or teachers. That has been fundamentally important to us is educating the teachers. We also created a youth garden bleeders, youth garden ambassadors of products can be taken care of as they grow the gardens. When we developed our gardens, we insisted three garden beds be used for items to go into the school meals program. My director of operations, Trixie Ramirez started something called spotlight salad were kids plant zucchini, go squash and tomatoes and they learned during that process. They go out and harvest those things. You wonder how kids can reduce play ways. You get them engaged in it. When the kids bring an end, although you cant eat the whole school, you can feed the classic came from and that is shown other kids a sense of pride. But our biggest source of pride in detroit Public Schools as we now have a local restaurant food menus is the school salad and were getting support. I work with cleveland. Ive been there several times to look at their gardening program. But it is a commitment to the new nutrition standards that made me realize that it was going to be through attrition education, community involvement, Student Loan Debt that we were point to make this work and that is why i see the new standards is a valuable proposition. So best of supports what we are trying to do to stem Childhood Obesity. Is very much. Senator leahy asked for a safe and in the record, which we will do without objection and a copy of his book the together by vermonts schools working with usda come at the new School Cuisine and he reminded us for members that were here when we started that the pumpkin squares you have in front of you have come from vermont and we also thank senator casey for the mushroom meat all of any apples and so on. So we are eating while today. We will now turn to senator johanns and then senator donnelly. Not in chair, thank you and thank you for holding this hearing. Let me if i might start with you, ms. Bowsher, i find her testimony interesting and i think very candid and honest about the challenges u. S. A. Theme. Like probably every number in the United States senate, ive visited a lot of schools, we all do. It is always a great place to get an honest assessment of things as you know. When i visit schools and i open it up to questions, these days over the last few years as a matter of fact, one of the common criticisms i hear from kids relates to the School Lunch Program. It may be about choices. It may be about the food that they dont want to read. It a. B. They are not getting enough to eat, that sort of thing. It seems to me that whatever we do with all of our good intentions, if we cant sell it to kid, we are fooling ourselves because that will go on their plate and then it will go to the trash bin. Heres what i worry about. I worry about that we have thrown so much at schools that we are going to get to a point where participation goes down, schools will back away from the program, kids will back away from the program and at the end of the day, what we end up with is the poor kids eating the School Lunch Program because it is free and reduced and the rest of the kids who have the resources from home to do Something Else theyre going to do Something Else. Am i missing something here . Am i off base . You have just summarized many of the concerns that our members across the country have expressed. Through a school meals to be appealing to all students. We have to feed all students because we dont want the students eligible for free and reduced meals to have a stigma attached to receive emails. As i mentioned, members across the country have worked very hard. Many of us, i am with daddy. I was an early adopter with Jessica Shelley in cincinnati, i may change as early and austin. Ive cultivated Community Partners. But that is still a challenge to assure that our meals are appealing to all students. That is why i think some flexibility is important in ensuring that students continue to come to the cafeteria. We will continue to encourage them to make healthy choices to make healthy choices easier choice for them. But operators did a little bit of flexibility in order to assure other students participate in the program. As each witness is testifying today, it occurred to me how different are the places you come from. There is nothing like detroit in my state. And i say that just simply because it is a bigger city. I mean, it is just kind of hard to describe. Detroit is not like many of the communities i visit. Ms. Wiggins, would you agree that one of the things that we might be missing is the lack of flexibility between a detroit and mccarney, nebraska . As the ann arbor michigan where there is 3 reproduced, my parents had the ability to have is through their organization or community gauge meant to put items on the tray. I think what youre missing please understand that school meals is not a welfare program. It provides direct benefits to support education for all children. Those children you are worried about come i also pay children, but those are the children of the working poor can in the near poor in soon poor can engineer pores due to the poor can engineer pores due to the poor that bring in the junk food to the cafeteria. Those kids whose parents cant afford to give them money every day or the kids with their heads down on the cafeteria table and missing lunch. Those are the kids now that ive been able to embrace and sikh Community Eligibility. Community eligibility allowed me to bring the revenue into my program so that i could support the new nutrition standards. Ive had a per capita standing because im also a business person. I had a per capita business spending of 1. 98 per kid. My participation went up 16 and i have more money. Now my per capita spending is around 3 because that is the flat reimbursement. We have to be savvy about what we do. And ann arbor i had to make food that was more appealing. It didnt cost me any difficult. In the trade i dont know if you heard the testimony. I am not concerned about the kids on the urban street corners. We do a real good job taking care of them. And concerned about the kids in southfield were the poverty is about 40 . Im concerned about those kids in that is the reason we need to make sure that you reauthorize this program so they can take care of all of our children. Detroit is not in a unique and different than the number of poor children in appalachia, West Virginia or kentucky or outlasted the native american reservations. They are small. By mrs. Magnified because im bigger. The probe in the legislation before you right now, the reauthorization is not only a good start, 10 necessary stars we can talk about phoebe not children. Thank you, madam chair. Thank you very much. Senator donnelly. Thank you, madam chair. Ms. Wiggins, when you have conferences, one of the things that has bothered me so much is the dramatic increase in type2 diabetes. That we see. Is that a subject that comes up at your conferences as to how youre after is can help suspend the tide on my . Sera come i appreciate that question. That is the subject that comes up in our district. Through the will this policy we can implement new standards will use the asexual this type two diabetics some of the education leaders are just as is concerned the new standards. It is not just a school lunch ladies but the issue we all need to be concerned about. That is a subject that the direct action of your work of the health of our children. I agree. I was truly interested run the secretary of the army came before the body to talk about how the kids are so obese and i was shaking my head. That that made me work harder to implement the new standards you have to be a savvy foodservice director to use all the tools to and percent of my food comes from usda commodities. My fred, the senator had to preside over the senate that one of the concerns he has is over equipment needs that you will need are there things that will help you with that process . Are there things we can do to help . I will briefly tell you with the training in of the equipment is an issue. There is a lot of infrastructure san schools that dont have coolers or freezers. As people begin to erode to feel children updating your equipment derek king new equipment is a need. We used to having committed france years ago and it was wonderful because you could get lace pieces of equipment and now it can be universal to steam, a pate, roasted is just one piece so that is definitely needed. Mr. Clements one of the things you do is to leverage the p i am from indiana in and i think one of the proudest moments for our farmers is when they see their products used in their town so of you bring that together with the local farmers or the for choosing groups that you buy from . What makes it easy for you to bring it as local as possible . We have had bigger success with the farmers and a happy with that and we rely strongly on Mississippi Agriculture to connect with the Defense Program to purchase through the dod and there are challenges their. There are many Small Farmers that struggle sometimes with the cost we have very few large farmers to meet those very easily and the irony is as we have seen Farmers Market increase this to pull produce away from the School Lunch Program so it is the struggle every year with the limited reimbursement with the states Ag Department has been very helpful. The more options they provide the ag community in then they see themselves at the middle school making their kids safe and healthy. We appreciated. At this point i am asking senator gillibrand to take over the chair i will vote and come right back at this point i will turn the chair over to senator gillibrand. Thank you madam chairman. Working on the reauthorization of the Healthy SchoolLunch Program you want them to have healthy meals with there is the disagreement on the flexibility needed for the School Lunch Program. I want you so whole grade requirement as an example. July 1 the requirement kicked in to provide for all cereal grain foods better served have to be one in to whole Grain Products crackers, bread products, a pizza crust, a taco shells anything made with greens hundred . Crayons, at which had to pursue you have 55,000 that have to have this on the crown to but somebody who has to deliver it every day to do something that they will eat so to address the flexibility issue i have a question for each panelist civic related to the whole grade requirement you are right to effective july 100 percent have to be whole great rich 51 whole grain. Were all there at 50 many are beyond that i will be at 100 percent although there are items that my students will try this semester i hope they like them but across the country inseams the single item in most regions some the School Authorities find a project that is acceptable treaty is in the southwest or biscuits and and grits, bagels in the northeast. Most districts have no trouble to get to 90 if there was exemption for the culturally significant items that they like. Again manufacturers have stepped up to produce great items like pasta that has not been a problem in my district. My kids are coming around on the biscuits finally. But Food Service Directors have a hard time accessing the products theyre students like through print distribution. Is in a reasonable to allow these exemptions for the of requirement if youre not putting that flexibility into the law will have funding to whole Grain Products every bunch for the next year in and beyond . As a card carrying member of the School Nutritionists association having my president here makes me proud. One of the things you have not talked about are the manufacturers who have worked very hard to formulate those polled Grain Products. They did not wait. They started right away talking to them last week one of the things they said is they support to maintain the standards because if they have to wait to reformulate that product and again it will cost me money. Says i. M. If for convicted i do have the full grain postilions the flexibility is a relative. What about an exception for a school having trouble . To say we cannot get the whole grain pasta chevy had then the program so i have to ask for a short response. If it is reasonable, yes, sir,. We just had the annual conference and speaking we would be happy to see some flexibility there. A taco bell tolled grain biscuit they had. So you do have this acceptable product but it just doesnt have the same taste or texture or feel as though white products do so we would support that. I do think there is some miscommunication old grade rich freeze 50 percent. But 100 percent of what you serve has to be at that threshold so we are clear. With. There is flexibility on the floor costa. Into a fix the of gripping event. From a scientific standpoint to let them know no exceptions. Also committing letter to rescind the matter where you eat your watch restaurant you dont see that as a hard check . Oh was doing that in wisconsin and there was products then. And this is that of expertise with trees and vegetables. [laughter] but they came to be two years ago that we cannot have that gaucherie suppliers. We founded for them to deliver to those districts so they are proactive and from the wrong perspective that is the minimum requirement that we should all be meeting to solve the obesity problem. And with those that are struggling reasonable exceptions are not . Stayed the course no exception. You feel you could accomplish the same thing and would 100 percent of the of Grain Products . Yes. I appreciate all of the panelist. Thank you. For hosting says terry i am worried about the obesity epidemic. The Food Research to 31 Million Students is the important investment so this discussion is invaluable. Update statistics are staggering one not of three kids are now will be sore overweight. Think about that. That is the extraordinarily high number we have schools sam preschools and kindergarten where 20 percent of children are obese. So we have an issue to a lack of information or lack of this understanding or lack of standards or lack to healthy food access and that is why the debate is so important. According to the American Heart Association 250 billion is spent in 208 billion loss in productivity and direct medical cost. Also staggering hunker in our country one of the five kids live in a household the struggles to put food on the table as 70 percent of teachers report kids coming to school hungry so the hot meal at school may be the only deal they eat that day we need to invest by investing in the food they eat. The 2. 92 that we currently invest in to the Free School Meals is not enough after labor and utility costs only about 1 is invested in the actual food and it has been reported for these tertian for the dairy and grain reedy to invest in additional 0. 35 per real i hope we can fight for this. I wish the senator didnt leave but of course, kids like the non whole grain that is what they prefer their like sugar even more. To give the child the choice sugar or fruit they will pick the sugar. The tastebuds love it but we have to be the adults you just dont give them the foods that they want but to teach them how to eat well for their whole lives and that takes leadership and determination and creativity of the of the fact you told your district pick the three colors when i was teaching my children when there were four or five or six down in the colors and they loved that because i said steamed vegetables as children they dont want butter or cream or cheese. They eat fruit at every meal since they were a baby they were introduced at every meal they prefer it. But these kids are not getting Healthy Foods at home but refined carbohydrates like a burger and french fries of course, they prefer that that is what they have been fed. We have to do more. I feel yes it is easy to have flexibility people like the brits but lets not serve refined foods at lunch but push them to eat something healthy that makes them healthy to reach full potential. When the kid is so obvious he does a far reaches full potential. He cannot concentrate or is made fun of with low selfesteem he or she does not reach full potential so i am grateful you have thought outside the box like the one to back off. Lets figure it out. Figure it out. I am worried about the goal to rollback requirements to serve healthier foods. Is that managers statement . Is that the goal . Period not to hold back the requirements but we fully support the increased quantities and varieties of fruits and vegetables to be offered and all of us are encouraging to select fruits and vegetables to prepare in the attractive way to make a wide variety available. We support 50 of the grains been old greater may be between 15 and 100 but our students do not see these foods outside of school. We also have students that go through the of wind take it because they have to then dont eat it then they go home and not have a meal and still be hungry. Kids will eat if they are hungry. I do not agree. If my son could choose his lunches candy and cookies but he is so concrete he will put eat what i put on his plate i do not agree a hungry kid well taken an awful aura of vegetable just because it is not their favorite they will eat it. If you offer lowquality food they will prefer a lowquality food. Were not offering lowquality food we are meeting the calorie requirements we are eliminating trans fat in the saturated fat requirements id reducing sodium. We will be on board with the requirements that with into effect july 1 this is about allowing students time to catch up. You dont turn their taste buds a round on a dime in we are encouraging them to take healthy choices. Okay. I think we need more money in this program do you . Yes. Good. During the authorization i support the 35 increase rather than 6 does that help to achieve your goals . So id like you to help us do that. You are the advocates of experts we have to inform congress to dollars 0. 92 is not enough. Whole fruits and vegetables canby affordable as we increase access but i can tell you with the lowquality vegetable who prefers esteemed green beans over key and . Everyone nobody prefers decade isnt version they are more tasty and delicious so focused on how we get the fresh whole fruit in vegetable but it cost more it is cheaper to serve the Chicken Nuggets but if we have roasted or grilled it is more healthy but it does cost a little bit more so please help us to achieve that goal to inform congress how important a little bit of money and i have other questions for e equipment but there is the Grant Program we had in the past of a bike to reinstitute i had a bill to do that it is not a lot of money 35 million of creance so they can serve the fresh fruits and vegetables. He did not here earlier but it would be saving 200 billions per year it is a huge strain on the economy senator . Take you very much. I appreciate you being here and i was on the School Boards seven years to understand how difficult it is if you are in the trenches. Some of you have figured this out but we have a problem because the vast majority of colleagues have not figured it out. I had visited with a bunch of people like lunch personnel over the past year who are very frustrated. Of things i hear about is the waste and expense anna and the unfunded mandate. The annals of the kids been hungry. Is great you have it figured out to some extent betta bunch of your colleagues havent. Mr. Muir as mentioned with the testimony you fruit sid vegetables is subject to floods or chairs for two shang cost based on the growing season how do you handle the supply when theyre out of season. We work with the School Districts to help them have day annual calendar so we steer them away from things we already know like a production cycle in the price will go up. And in many occasions if there is a weather event in the price spikes we immediately notified the School Districts to make a substitution under the Fresh Program when their prices are posted, led we kidvids we can see us spike it will go to the substitute product so we dont spend 20 for something that is normally eight. We do that with all districts. Your farm source is fresh from around the world for your customers how to work with School Authorities to work by american provisions that required those processed locally to the maximum extent possible . The complete Online System throat dod we cannot postpone domestic items it is very regulated and difficult to make a mistake. With a a wide variety of fresh fruits and vegetables. We can do it during the school year. Who else would like to answer, as some of you have been doing this for awhile are you seeing reduction of obesity in your children . Yes. Have been doing it for a while. [laughter] but i also notice i have better eating habits also wed need to consider an exercise in but you will get overweight but those better eating habits i was impressed when my kids popped for the apple over the potato chips. I dont happen para bolt the evidence but i can tell you supplely to waste i have not experienced it that much is in detroit. There are other things that will help us or the people that are responsible with new training requirements. In the aisle level of education among the people who deliver the program are not equal. I have the business background and i understand but the small districts districts, people dont have of the skills so i respect of this authorization myth that authorization you have given us. Dont miss understated by very supportive but we do have a problem with your colleagues not understanding has to be fixed and think it has to be tweet to make it as effective but the commons that you made miss wiggins cannot do is to just focus on this. It is not the only answer you mention exercise, that has to be a huge part of a also. Thank you for being here. Thank you madame chairwoman i appreciate all of you for making time. The issue about standard is important and one that most of us hear a lot about not being eaten or tossed aside for standards that create a significant burden on School Systems as well i have heard from the administrators in south dakota that say thou higher cost of food had to meet usda standards does related in a financial loss even employees so they could meet their financial obligations. As you look at this issue we have to remember there is no federal law of the commissioner policy to be considered a Gold Standard in not to be changed that our responsibility is to approach this mission with open mind and the spirit of cooperation to not be unduly influenced for those who support current standards. Of what to do direct a question with an issue a little specific to those in south dakota i have heard from students and parents and School Administrators and Food Service Managers about the impact these standards are have a but there is a particular letter to talk about one from the 200 students from the Learning Center in south dakota and they want to have traditional foods that are served once a month but because of the inflexibility of the new nutritional standards, they cannot do is that so how do we work with the reauthorization to ensure they receive healthy the atrocious meals while allow wayne flexibility to meet these types of requests . Especially in areas of Indian Country and other members as well. With the School Districts around the country we are surveying a diverse student population in my own district there over 120 languages spoken in some of the importance of their own evening harry j. Is important and but i would hope during the 2015 authorization recut look at that to offer reasonable flexibility to allow all the fruits of their culture in the School Meal Program. Dr. Wilson and schools getting adequate amounts of Technical Assistance to successfully implement the requirements . Sans we put the cart before the horse because there is no requirement for your educational level. It does not make sense to have any educational requirements that all. I know of some districts that are in trouble but part of the problem is not that they dont want to with the person leading the program is not able to. You can make all the rules you want but if you dont understand that does not help. It is too bad you have to require it the district still do that and i worked at a small district of the 1700 kids. So we decided we would have to do something about that. So that it is nothing new. We did recess before lunch chit as a huge impact kids dont worry to get out to get the soccer ball so there is anecdotal evidence why things are happening but i dont think we have checked out what is occurring and with those professional standards redo the to have an opportunity for people to be educated. But in the nursing home situation you are required to have a registered dietitian oversee your program for i am not saying every District Needs that but the small other syndromes in every rural county have to have somebody that comes in and to help with the new plan the horror purchasing. There is a way in our district to increase participation in my superintendent loved it and then to put better standards in place it is doable but i am just beginning his chase didnt take a few years to see the outcome of moving forward. Ms. Wiggins . I am sensitive with ethnic preferences i am from detroit of large hispanic and metal is stern and lithuanians isnt you cannot serve healthy but black people really love Collard Greens and fat but we have changed it since it impacts our health and we have black eyed peas in in Sweet Potatoes and corn bread but they are all from of the guidelines of usda. It is not like mamas. [laughter] but it is the awareness it can be eaten. Fate q. For being here. They q28t levin for chairing the meeting while i was speaking and coding so let the proceed the be all of your input as we resolve the challenges to support our schools to make sure children get what they need. And i mentioned in the firstround, of the concern from the food is Service Directors the amount of time children have to eat and i hear it after they get through the line they have a couple of minutes. I know this gets into a broader question of districts in how to define lunch, but can you tell us more about the issue and the impact whether or not engaging School Boards sort of local leaders to find solutions . Time to eat lunch is a serious concern. We do address in conferences, in webinars and other types of material that its really a decision we can have some influence on and try to educate School Administrators about the importance of time to eat lunch, but and, of course, the which we have no immediate mpack impact. I know theres some desire or some areas have done or are talking about pilots were children are eating breakfast in the classroom, other options and so on. We have some things that hopefully we can do to help support you, and tools that relate to that because i think there really is a very important issue for students. And also let me just ask you, because we hear so many Different Things depending on the school, depending on the state and someone. And i know in kentucky, your home state, that kentucky was nearly 100 compliant with all the standards last year. I want to congratulate you as being an early adopter and the work that youve done. When we look across a state like kentucky with a lot of Rural Communities, we see harlan county, lisa sims in davies county, talking about the successes and implementing standards, you know, they indicated they dont see challenges or they wouldnt ask for a waiver and solar. Yet we have Different Things in different schools about whats happening. What is different in these schools from other schools that were hearing about . How do we help the schools out having challenges but also recognizing the schools that are saying they are moving ahead . A lot of it comes down to the support staff, the School Nutrition program. Im very fortunate that i have a number of people on my staff that are assigned specific duties related to her School Meal Program. I can tell you that since a healthy hungerfree kids act went into effect i have had to take weinke decision, the court made it up procurement menu plan and split that into too. I think mr. Clements alluded to the complexity of the requirement. Select one person who now concentrates on food procurement audit writing specifications and ensuring that students have an opportunity to sample new products and i have another person that works on the menu planning and does all of that and takes care special dietary needs. So that points to the complexity of some of this. And i think more districts are better equipped to handle that. Not all School Nutrition directors may be equipped with the skills necessary to handle many changes that have occurred and the complexity of those changes. Ill tell you a story. I attended foodservice required erector training in frankfort not long ago. Small groups and there was a new director there. He spent a foodservice tractor just two years, and he formerly worked at the state department, and he told us can he said im so overwhelmed because hes trying to do everything himself, i focus on one thing this year and i will focus on another the next year. So again people are feeling overwhelmed in terms of trying to handle all of the changes because there has been a lot of changes in a relatively short period of time for many of us spent it sounds like would be helpful if we could make sure your the resources you need as well so you werent having to pick. Finally and then ill turn it over, let me just ask mr. Clements, and again congratulations on what youve been doing in mississippi. Very different than detroit, then kentucky and utah, the difference wisconsin certainly, but we are seeing positive things being addressed. I know that mississippi i know your work on Healthy School meals has really made a difference. In childrens lives, literally them living longer. You should feel very good about that. You implemented the nutrition standards for competitive foods well before the National Policies were developed. So wonder if you could talk about the successes and challenges you have had at the state competitive the food standards and Health Benefits that youve seen as a result of the changes. Weve been very fortunate in mississippi, in many respects with the legislation and the state board of education who are both very cognizant of the challenges we have such as obesity in our state. As far back as the 1980s, the implement an aggressive competitive food policy, nothing to be sold on School Grounds and now before any School Lunch Program. We dont have what most schools have as farce a la carte sales. Most pickup the complete reimbursement meal to purchase any extra. Some of those of the militiamen years. In 07 our state legislature and board addressed it again. We put in very stringent lending policies actually are closely aligned to the smart rules and our schools did see some lost revenue but weve also seen some very good things going on with inventing. We sing very good complianccomplianc e but it took them a little while to get on board. There was a transition period but like i say we been very fortunate our schools have adopted those and they have accepted them gracefully. Senator klobuchar. Well, thank you very much, madam chair. Sorry i it Something Else this one and appreciate that hearing is still going on. And i think this is something so important to all of us. I know something youre passionate about, something we care a lot about in our state, and i supported the healthy hunger free act healthy hungerfree kids act in 2010 with a pass on a bipartisan basis, overwhelming support. Our schools are a critical part of in this effort and weve made some progress. We havent been able to say that for a few years but we made some progress and we are stabilizing the rate of Childhood Obesity in part because of the reforms that have been enacted. I think we all know that theree is work to be done. We know its been acknowledged that change isnt easy and that preventing Childhood Obesity wont happen overnight. I dont think we should be rolling back or postponing the standards right now but i think its good to hear what people have to say. Also coming from a ag state, i wanted to talk a little bit about the issue agenda the chairwoman has been involved in purchasing local and regional ag products for School Meal Programs. I think its a good bridge between nations farmers and their children. According to the usda farm to school status, minnesota School District supports 12 other school food budget on local products. Could you provide maybe, ms. Wiggins, symantec how you see this practice as a longterm strategy to support kids and also the Agricultural Community . Im happy to report the detroit Public Schools, 22. 5 of our produce dollars are michigan grown produce. I think that longterm strategy means that we have to develop some supply chain. A little rural school, i have to tell my story. Im from a little farm town in michigan and i went there for a meeting and i know the local farmers. They said they come here in detroit now. Im going to get my food into your schools. And i said, i cant. I need one school. I said i have 131. So the way the we handled, i had to disappoint people i grew up with. But the way that we handle getting fresh fruits and vegetables interschool at local, at the local level is we have to develop the supply chain. We will have to develop cooperatives. One of the think the state of michigan does when you talk about how we can help one another, we have something called an alternate agreement, whereby i can provide services to those with small School Districts, the one into the dont have the capability for the education or the equipment or even the time that i provide my services. I put those districts in with detroit Public Schools so when Detroit Public School kids get that 14 sent apple that senators are always bad to talk about, if those Small Schools were not with me, that apple would cost them 40 cents. So the ability to collaborate and cooperate is whats going to extend this program and allow us to add those important products. Senator klobuchar, i just left st. Paul, director of st. Paul and the director of minneapolis yesterday, that we were in a meeting trying to form a collaborative so that we could create a larger Market Basket so that we could go out on the market and appeared more attractive. Vendors manufacturers, they are not giving us food and i dont have a problem with that. But if what we can do is collaborative will ensure that my farmers in michigan and in minnesota dont have to plow under products that my kids could eat, that we consider a so speed is one other thing we did, our Agriculture Extension Service at the university of minnesota did a study and it doesnt surprise me because we see this with local product in general. People are interested in being part of something thats local. What we found in the study, there was a three to 16 increase in school meal participation when there was a farm to School Program because i think i know theres been supply chain issues but ive heard about some of this that they didnt read remember if we can work this out its not only good for the kids, it peaks the interest and the families interest in being part of his because they see it as part of the local community. Just ask one more question here with my time. Of you, ms. Bauscher. In your testimony, and a note earlier you talk about School Districts that is the trouble find acceptable foods that meet the wholegrain richest has become a schools have taken provided advantage of that for the industry to develop workable products . I do not have an answer to that question. I know in talking to colleagues from around the country as recently as last week in boston, ive talked to districts to apply intend to apply for the way to talk to districts that dont have any further waiver, including my own. Sometimes it could be districts that are adjacent to one another. I dont know how many have actually applied. I think would be helpful to know because there is that possibility out there when people try to be as flexible as possible. Mr. Clements, just one more question. Outside of the new standards how do state agencies and schools determine what products will be included in the vending machines and the a la carte lines . I worked very hard on the vending machine issue. I care a lot about it after having my daughter in Public Schools alive and watching what was in some of the vending machines that some of the kids were in afterSchool Programs like she was and what they were eating. So what methods of evaluation have been used in the vending machines for the Smart Snacks Program . Again back to 07 way policies in the state workers similar to the smart snacks. We at the state agency provide the service to the School Authorities and if they consider the products we make evaluation for them and they dont have to have any technical skills. We have that expertise, our office. We publish a list and if the individual products they can use the information. Of course, the online calculators that if they want to go through they can use those. We encourage that but were happy to provide that service. Thank you very much. Take you very much. Senator klobuchar, again thank you for presiding over this committee today. Thank you for holding this hearing but i think it is a vital issue because of the obesity rates in children and how important it is for the health and well being. I want to continue along the lines that senator klobuchar started. What weve done, food of the increasingly popular across new york state and vary from notforprofit, very from notforprofit working to bring locals who to underserved areas to large notforprofit serving hundreds of businesses and institutions. For example, new york city fulfill National Wholesale food market an Internet Access throuh direct sales individuals. My team works closely with different food of the organizations and has helped to secure grandson of services to advance the nation. Bridges between port ports of fd haves and have ties to School Attrition in the work that you . Food hubs are playing an integral role in getting locally grown produce to schools and other end users. The big issue of course is that a lot of these local growers are what is known as a micro growth and not commercial so, therefore, they dont have a distribution as center. So the food hubs play a Critical Role in getting produce from the farm to the end users. In addition to nonprofit food haves, sometimes they also have some challenges in distribution. And we dont have a successful nonprofit in our market, food hubs, but we have stepped in as a distributed to act as the local food of and working with the School District, we can choose local growers are they can choose them and we act, they deliver to us and we deliver out to the different schools rather than having a farmer in his pickup truck or whatever trying to deliver to 40 schools all on one day. So theyre an integral part of the success of the local food program, and the local school, farm to School Program. So the funding and the processes to assist those food hubs is important. Do you have any ideas on how we can expand that . If, so for challenges is getting access to the fresh whole fruits and vegetables from her local farmers. What is suppose ideas you can offer that we could expand food hubs . We tried to use the program as aggressively as we can in supporting grant applications and getting access to capital but do you have thoughts on how to expand the program . I dont specifically. I know its a big challenge, and we need to continue to work on that. We also have to keep in perspective although local fruits visited way to go, it is not, it cannot solve all of our problems. We still have to rely on the commercial sector, the commercial farms who can produce large quantities of product, supply our schools and other sources. For instance, a large School District goes to a small graces we want to produce, they can wipe them out in one day. We have to put that in perspective but i think we continue to work with the food hubs, working with usda, grant monies, civic and developed a system to its a new Distribution System that is new to all of us. So it will take time to develop. Similarly, this pastor usda allocated 100 million for Technical Assistance to help me with a new nutrition standards. More than half the money has been returned to the usda. That means that states about and utilizing the resources that were available. For example, in new york state 46 of the implementation funds are not being used which it was 2. 5 million. Dr. Wilson, could you speak to what youre doing to leverage the usda dollars to protect tactical assistance to schools to meet the new nutrition standards be . The institute is a national institute. So we go nation wide and wouldnt Technical Assistance in new york city right now. Its coming from our budget, not theirs. But that has been an issue. There are ways for the states can contract with us to prevent outside contracts from a number of states, using their money, to contract with us to do specific things in their state. Mississippi did it. He had some foundation money, so possibly interstate and did colin occurring all over the state because scott want that to be done in his state. California do the same state. California do the same thing where we did 10 Culinary Trends all of the state, just concentrated to train trainers so they could go out and train. That states can use that money with us very easily and get us to put our experienced trainers on the ground to help them make sure that the standards are being met. Theres all different topics that we offer from hands on to online, from culinary to Financial Management to use those funds. Thank you, madam chair. Thank you very much. And thank you to all of you. This is really an important snapshot i think of how program is working across the country, the challenges that we face do we want to work with all of you to continue moving forward, build on best practices, be able to support and tackle the things that we still needed tackle richard at all schools are successful. Because the bottom i were talking about something pretty important here in terms of the health of the future of the country, tackling Childhood Obesity and adult obesity based on the habits that we all a choir as we have to dig and certainly change always is a little difficult but in this case it is well worth the effort. So thank you again. We look forward to working with you on the reauthorization of the child attrition program, and i would say to colleagues and any additional questions for the record should be submitted to the committee up to five Business Days from today. Thats 5 p. M. On wednesday, july 30, and the meeting is adjourned. [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] one of the reasons researchers like we do investigate animals is emerging diseases on people are often traced back to animals one of the situations occurred at 2003 the first hint something had gone terribly wrong you can see in this picture of israel to live in wisconsin to developed very disturbing skin lesions. I am too young to have been vaccinated i am the first generation to did not get a vaccine but many researchers dedicated their Early Careers to eradicate these diseases from the world and chuck one look and said that the smallpox. We were very, very worried when the second case was reported a few days later from another part of wisconsin. They did not know each other a three yearold and a businessman but one piece of history in, they both had been written by a sect prairie dog. This is from our q a series. Its about an hour. Cspan Isabel Wilkerson the author of the warmth of other suns do you remember the moment when he started thinking about it . Guest i cant cant say what the moment was because ive been living at all my life. My parents migrated from the south to washington d. C. , my mother from georgia and my father from southern virginia and washington. Thats where they met, married and had me so without the migration i wouldnt be here. I dont know who you would be talking to. So i have lived with it all my life. I grew up with people from North CarolinaSouth Carolina georgia and i was surrounded by the language, the food, the music, the ambitions of the people who had migrated from the south. A lot of competition about whose childhood go to which school, catholic schoola