national school lunch program

Cross posted from the Let's Move! blog:

You don’t have to go to Hawaii to get a taste of the islands. In fact the students at Mount Lebanon Elementary School in Pendleton, S.C. were cooking up what can only be described as a paradise for the taste buds  in First Lady Michelle Obama’s Recipes for Healthy Kids competition. Our judges made their way down to Pendleton as the competition continued its tour across the country to find the top recipe that schools can easily incorporate into National School Lunch Program menus.

Mount Lebanon’s recipe, called Crunchy Hawaiian Chicken Wrap (entered in the ‘Dark Green and Orange Vegetables’ category), was among the 15 recipes chosen out of the 340 entries submitted, five were selected in each of three categories: whole grains, dark green and orange vegetables, and dry beans and peas.

Cross posted from the Let's Move! blog:

It was off to the Sunshine State for our team of judges in the First Lady’s Recipes for Healthy Kids contest where they joined students at Orlando’s Liberty Middle School. The competition to date has been intense as kids cooked up some delectable dishes. Liberty’s recipe, called Roasted Fish Crispy Slaw Wrap (Dark Green and Orange Vegetables), was among 15 recipes chosen to move forward in the competition from among the 340 entries submitted across five categories: whole grains, dark green and orange vegetables, and dry beans and peas.

Recipe team members at Liberty were school nutrition professional, Sharon Springer; Chef Ed Colleran, Executive Sous Chef at Universal Studios in Orlando, Fla.; community member Ms. Sarah Thornquest; and students Joshua, Tyler, Kimberly, Shalima, and Priscilla.

Cross posted from the Let's Move! blog:

On April 26, I had the pleasure of visiting Harold S. Winograd School in Greeley, Colo., to kick off the judging for the First Lady’s Recipes for Healthy Kids competition. As I arrived at the school, I could feel the excitement, enthusiasm, and deep pride among the students and staff.

The students greeted us at the entrance of the school, dressed in professional-looking aprons embroidered with their names, and crisp, white chef hats. Four 8th-grade students - Jace, Bethany, Abraham, Amairani - along with local chef Amanda Smith, Kara Sample, RD, SNS, the administrative dietitian for Weld County School District 6, and Emily Wigington an AmeriCorps VISTA volunteer, developed the recipe of Chic’ Penne, one of 15 semi-finalist recipes from around the country.

For most kids, summer vacation means picnics, parks and play. But for some children, summer vacation can, unfortunately, mean going hungry. Anne Arundel County Public Schools in Maryland understand this harsh reality and have taken steps to keep children fed during the summer months.

Millions of those who receive nutrition assistance from the federal government are children. Nothing is more important than the health and well-being of our kids and so, at USDA, we are working to ensure that kids are being served safe, high quality meals.

To emphasize this priority, Secretary Vilsack has just announced that Kansas State University was selected to establish the Center of Excellence for Food Safety Research in Child Nutrition Programs.  Their important work will provide science-based support to improve the safety of USDA foods, particularly those served in schools and child care settings.

When the First Lady kicked off the Let’s Move! initiative last year, she said that her primary goal is to end childhood obesity. The Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act gets to the heart of this effort by helping schools, parents, and communities make health and nutrition a priority for kids.  Among the law’s many reforms, schools that participate in the Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) school lunch program will have to make drinking water available for free to students in the cafeteria during lunch.  With this change we want to make the healthy choice the easy choice for our kids.

Schools must also offer at least two choices of low fat or fat free milk.  These changes are consistent with what is recommended in the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, just updated earlier this year. The Dietary Guidelines are a set of science-based recommendations that include many tips for improving health and wellness.

Our commitment to American Indian and Alaska Native leaders, members, and communities is one of great importance to the Obama administration and to me as USDA Under Secretary for Food, Nutrition, and Consumer Services. This past fall, the White House concluded its second Tribal Nations Conference which provided a venue for tribal leaders to engage in dialogue with high-ranking officials on a wide range of social, economic and political challenges facing Indian country.

I would like to continue the dialogue and invite tribal leaders or their delegated representatives to formally consult on how we can improve the health and nutrition of our children in Indian Country.

The saying goes, it takes a village to raise a child.  In this same context,  it takes all of us working together to feed hungry children, especially in the summer months when even more of our nation’s kids go without proper nutrition.  The government, however, cannot solve this challenge alone.

Over 20 million children receive free or reduced-price lunch during the school year through USDA’s National School Lunch Program.  For many of them, school meals are the only complete and nutritious meals they consume, and in the summer, many simply go without.  It is USDA’s goal to ensure that no child in the U.S. goes to bed hungry. But to accomplish this, we need the community’s support.

Cross posted from the Let's Move! blog:

We know that to win the future, we have to ensure that our kids have access to nutritious meals and healthy lifestyles.

Last September, First Lady Michelle Obama launched the Recipes for Healthy Kids competition to bring together chefs, school nutrition professionals, students and parents who work in teams to develop nutritious, delicious, kid-approved recipes for use in schools.

The winds of winter may still be blowing in many parts of the country, but it is already time to start thinking about the summer.   20 million children receive free or reduced-price lunch during the school year through USDA’s National School Lunch Program. For many children, school meals are the only complete and nutritious meals they eat, and in the summer they go without.  22.3 million children are at risk of going hungry when the school year ends and school lunches are no longer available.