State Sen. Nancy Skinner, D-Berkeley, is calling for lower sugar, salt and fat levels and more whole grains in California K-12 school meals in a new senate bill introduced.
If passed, Senate Bill 348 would require schools who participate in the National School Lunch Program to follow the recent national school nutrition standards set by the Biden Administration on Feb. 3.
California schools would also be required to seek out federal funds for childhood nutrition programs to ensure students can access free school meals during the summer.
Skinner previously authored legislation in 2021 that allowed California public school students the ability to access two free school lunches a day.
Skinner hopes setting stricter nutrition standards for these lunches, which make up over half the calories some students consume in a day, can mitigate the risk of children developing diabetes, which is the most common chronic disease for school children.
“Research shows that providing nutritious meals to students will not only improve their health but also lead to better academic outcomes in the classroom,” Skinner added. “With our abundance of delicious, fresh-grown, nutritious food, California should have the nation’s healthiest children, and SB 348 will put the needs of kids first.”
Under SB 348, California public schools would be compliant with the American Academy of Pediatrics’ recommendation that school children do not consume more than 25 grams of added sugar a day.
“It’s time that California makes changes to reduce the burden of diabetes on future generations in our state,” said Chief Advocacy Officer of the American Diabetes Association, Lisa Murdock.
19 comments
Lets start incentivizing school gardens, so kids can have fresh food and experience cultivating a crop
For teaching the kids about gardening that is fine. Remember that the growing season is mostly in the summer when they are not there to tend the crops.
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Food can be grown all year long here Years ago we had a garden for kindergarteners. They loved it! Start ‘‘em young and continue it throughout the school experience. It could be the only gardening experience some kids will ever have.
We need to see more community gardens close to schools.
If it does not taste good it will not be eaten. So off to the trash it goes.
I don’t think I am understanding this correctly – “Skinner previously authored legislation in 2021 that allowed California public school students the ability to access two free school lunches a day” – why does anyone need TWO lunches a day?
More and more bureaucratic failure. Unable to get the basics right. Expamding their incompetence. 25 grams of sugar a day? Sure. One payday candybar has 21
I used to bring a bag of hot Cheetos and then pay for the hot nacho cheese to be poured on top. No one cared. And that was my meal and it was delicious!
How about focusing on making sure more than 1/4 of the students can read at grade level? I am all for healthy lunches (and school gardens for sure), but why does this need to be a law? Because the lawmakers do not tackle the tough things-they try to pick the low hanging fruit that they think makes them look good. Mark DeSaulnier increasingly does this too.
And yes the food has to actually taste good or it just turns into massive food waste.
They are only willing to fix things that help them launder money. Increasing academic success does not do that.
Would you eat that? If you drink both OJ and milk at the same meal they will have a nice little battle in your stomach. And what is that yellow glop on top of that cringy overcook chicken looking thing? Eggs? Looks like my dog threw up. And peaches and apples. Really? Where is some kind of bread or something to sustain the kids from falling asleep during their woke indoctrination sessions. A lot of the time my lunch was a roll of Hostess donuts. And I was on the football team.
Yeah, that looks like a pretty disgusting meal. It could be simpler and more nutritious. When I was in high school we moved from the old high school to the new one but the cafeteria was not ready yet so me signed up for lunches which were brought over. I knew which ones were fairly bad and went instead to a booth where I could purchase lunch items ala carte.
Food is one component but I think physical education is also important. My son has no P.E. in school this year. Apparently, only a couple years are mandated in high school. I think exercise is a big key to healthier and happier children.
Skinner has co-authored some really destructive and dangerous legislation. The more occupied she stays with innocuous things like this the better off we’ll be.
Fearless Spectator please elaborate. Which legislation are you referring to?
ITSME: You did not ask me but I know how to use this resource called Google that apparently you do not. A few minutes of searching comes up with Skinner’s agenda:
California all expense paid abortion tourism from other states
Requiring insurance from gun owners
Ban “willful defiance” as a reason to suspend students
Cheering Newsom’s legislation to provide free health care to illegals
$3 million of your tax money to study Latinx
Fought for having those with felony convictions allowed to serve in juries
Thats enough for me. Point proven.
I’ll leave you to your own research as there are so many.
However as a teaser, SB82 is one that really favors the criminal over victims of their violence.
Wwe are already having gardens in our schools. Growing healthy kids have been working with the cafterias bring from garden to cafteria. Showing students how it would come from a garden and how we would prepare it to serve to them.
How about people use their food stamps to pay for their kids to eat or stop having kids This is all so ridiculous. THe schools should not be involved in any meal program, for crying out loud.
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