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Jamie Oliver's Got a Beef With Congress
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In “Schoolkids Deserve More than Junk Food,” Chef Jamie Oliver expresses disappointment over Congress’ failure to pass the Child Nutrition Bill last week. Oliver is best known for his cooking shows and books; his TV series, “Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution,” has helped bring mainstream awareness to the need for better school lunch programs in American public schools, and over 600,000 people have signed the Food Revolution petition Oliver intends to show to the White House.
Introduced to the U.S. Senate in May 2010, S.3307, The Child Nutrition Bill (officially known as The Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010) was designed to both reduce both the incidence of hunger and obesity in children by improving the nutritional quality and quantity of food provided to school children. Dramatic increases in rates of childhood obesity as well as the need for federal food assistance have prompted the need to improve and expand existing federal child nutrition programs. As obesity places children at much greater risk of developing cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and hypertension as adults, making sure children get enough nutritious food in schools is a substantial preventative measure.
First Lady Michelle Obama has been pushing for passage of the Child Nutrition Bill as part of her healthful eating campaign. On August 5, 2010, the Senate unanimously passed S.3307 and referred it to the House of Representatives. After anti-hunger groups protested the bill, though, the House put off deciding its fate until after the November elections (a.k.a. the “lame duck” session). The $4.5 billion needed to provide expanded access to nutritious, free lunches and after-school meals for low-income children was to be funded, in part, by cutting $2.2 billion in future food stamp benefits, which would also hurt needy families, according to anti-hunger advocates. While public health advocates say that the $2.2 billion loss of food stamps mischaracterizes a temporary increase in funding for an inflation of food prices which never materialized, controversy over the bill remains too great to take a political stand on right now.
In a video accompanying his opinion about the bill’s state of affairs, Oliver says “it’s come to a tipping point where something has to happen… milk’s not even milk anymore, know what I mean?” … we need “basic, basic food education…” so people can buy and prepare foods that truly nourish them and their children. Oliver relates that, while government facilitates change, business and commerce are the “real cult of America.” Food businesses, says Oliver, need to “become outrageously passionate about food education ... caring can be commercial.”
Public demand for better food is really at the heart of such change, though, suggests Oliver. He writes that parents should have lunch with their children at school to understand what they’re being fed, and, if not happy with it, parents should “band together and go to [the] school board and demand change.” As Oliver’s message implies, be that change:
References:
Highlights of S.3307: A Path to End Childhood Hunger Highlights of S.3307: Promoting Health and Reducing Childhood Obesity Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry Report on “The Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010,” May 5, 2010. Track the bill's progress. © 2010 Heart MD Institute, PA
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