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SNA Supports House FY 2015 Agriculture Appropriations Bill

2014-05-19

National Harbor, MD (May 19, 2014) – The House Appropriations Committee has released the Fiscal Year 2015 Agriculture Appropriations bill, which will be considered by the House Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee tomorrow. The bill contains language requiring USDA to give school meal programs that have been operating at a net loss for at least 6 months the opportunity to apply for a one-year waiver from compliance with costly meal pattern requirements.

School Nutrition Association (SNA) President Leah Schmidt, SNS released the following statement regarding the bill: “School Nutrition Association strongly supports establishing a one-year waiver process to provide temporary relief to school meal programs struggling to manage the cost of meeting school meal standards.

“School nutrition professionals have been on the front lines working to improve school menus, offer a wider variety of fruits, vegetables and whole grains, and encouraging students to make healthier choices in the cafeteria. However, since these standards took effect, more than one million fewer students choose school lunch each day, reducing revenue for school meal programs already struggling to manage the increased cost of preparing meals under the new standards.

“A temporary waiver would ease the burden on school meal programs, preventing more schools from dropping out of the National School Lunch Program altogether, until Congress can fully discuss these challenges as part of Child Nutrition Reauthorization 2015.”

SNA has been calling on Congress to provide flexibility under the school food standards to help increase student consumption of healthy choices available while limiting waste. To read SNA’s requests, click here.

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