Coming Soon? Healthier School Lunches

August 9, 2010— -- Move over hamburgers, tater tots and pizza. Healthier school lunches could be just around the corner. While unhealthy foods may be staples in most school cafeterias, new child nutrition legislation recently passed in the Senate could bring major changes to lunch lines across the country.

The $4.5 billion "Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act" approved in the Senate on Thursday would expand children's access to federal nutrition programs and, according to supporters, improve the nutritional quality of the school lunches. The legislation marks the largest investment in child nutrition programs since their inception.

Current funding for school nutrition programs will expire on September 30th unless Congress approves a new initiative.

The bill now moves on to the House, where it is expected to pass. However, the House, which has recessed for the summer, does not have a timeline for when it will vote on the bill.

"The Senate has seized a tremendous opportunity to do what's right for our children and our families," said Sen. Blanche Lincoln, D-Ark., the bill's sponsor and the chair of the Senate Agriculture Committee. "The Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act will finally put us on a path toward improving the health of the next generation of Americans, providing common-sense solutions to tackling childhood hunger and obesity. This is a resounding victory for our nation's children and an investment that will last a lifetime."

The bill would establish nutrition standards for school lunches and all food sold in schools, including vending machines. For the first time in over three decades it would increase the federal reimbursement rate, by approximately six cents a meal. In an effort to combat hunger, it would also raise the number of children eligible for free or reduced-cost meals and expand after-school snack programs to provide full meals.

The bill was passed without a vote under a bipartisan strategy and is paid for through offsets and stimulus funding. "At a time when families are scrimping and saving to make their own budgets work, I can't think of a better message to send than to pass a fully paid for bill that will help their children live longer, healthier, more productive lives," Lincoln said.

However, in order to pay for the legislation the Senate bill takes $2.2 billion away from funding for food stamp programs, a move that has cost them the support of some hunger advocates. The decision to take funding away from food stamps was made after Republicans on the Senate Agriculture Committee opposed initial efforts to offset the costs of the legislation by cutting conservation subsidies to farmers.