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Summary of Competitive Foods Task Force Report

Healthy eating patterns in childhood and adolescence promote optimal health, growth and intellectual development. Studies show children perform better in school when they have appropriate nutritional intake. Significant health problems, such as iron deficiency anemia, renal disease, eating disorders and dental problems can be prevented with a healthy diet.  Dietary habits also play an important role in helping to prevent more chronic health problems such as coronary heart disease, cancer, stroke, diabetes, high blood pressure, obesity and osteoporosis. 

Lifestyles that include healthy eating and physical activity support and sustain the maintenance of a healthy weight, for both individuals and the population as a whole, are a major focus of the American Dietetic Association (ADA) and its members. With obesity rates continuously rising—they have tripled in school-age children and adolescents since 1970—ADA will focus on obesity, including prevention of childhood obesity, as a key interest. ADA is committed to strengthen the federal nutrition programs and will focus child nutrition reauthorization efforts on enhancing nutrition education, improving environments conducive to healthy food and beverage choices and developing a comprehensive, behavior-based research agenda.  ADA believes appropriately trained individuals in decision-making roles can transform these programs in ways to help children/students succeed in making healthy food and beverage choices throughout the day.*

Guiding Knowledge 

ADA’s work on the issues of competitive foods and nutrition education are guided by the following principles:

• School food and nutrition environments should promote energy balance, moderation and eating patterns that are consistent with the federal dietary and nutrition guidelines. 
  • Schools and communities have a shared responsibility to provide all students with access to high-quality affordable foods/beverages and nutrition services as an integral part of the total education program.
  • A healthy lifestyle can be achieved when a variety of foods and beverages are consumed in moderation with appropriate portions and balanced with adequate physical activity.
  • Foods and beverages available and consumed by children in schools should contribute to dietary patterns consistent with Federal and national nutrition recommendations and guidelines (e.g. Dietary Reference Intakes, Dietary Guidelines for Americans, and the Food Guide Pyramid) and contribute to the development of lifelong, healthy eating habits.
• School nutrition personnel are integral to food service systems and should be appropriately certified and possess principles and knowledge in food, nutrition and food safety.
  • The knowledge and skills required of school food and nutrition program professionals are rigorous, diverse, and comparable to the depth of knowledge required in other educational disciplines.
  • No other aspect of school administration is required to operate a self-supporting business within the framework of service delivery. Cost-effective school food service requires precise skills to balance student satisfaction and nutritional needs.
• Students can be taught optimal dietary practices and incorporate that knowledge into their lives. School-based nutrition education is vital for many students to learn healthy eating patterns.
  • Developing life-long healthful lifestyles and behaviors requires education and an environment to support healthy food habits and physical activity.
  • Educational goals, including the nutrition goals of the National School Lunch Program and the School Breakfast Program, should be supported and extended through policies at the federal, state, and local levels that create an overall school environment with learning experiences that enable students to develop lifelong, healthful eating habits.
    
• A comprehensive research agenda is essential to address the needs of school nutrition programs.  The following areas represent research priorities of the Association.
  • Effectiveness of nutrition and lifestyle change interventions.
  • Prevention and treatment of childhood obesity and associated chronic diseases.
  • Translation of research into nutrition interventions and programs.
  • Access to safe and secure food supply.
  • Cost-effective delivery of food and nutrition programs at the local, state, and federal levels.
  • Evaluation of nutrition interventions and programs.
  • Dietary pattern and eating behavior and choices. 

*These are recommendations of the Competitive Foods Task Force. These findings will be incorporated into ADA’s testimony on the Child Nutrition Act.

ADA supports the following strategies for addressing the school nutrition programs. ADA recommends:

• Empowering the Secretary of Agriculture with authority to regulate all foods and beverages sold throughout the day on school premises for schools participating in the school breakfast, lunch, and after school programs.
  
  
  
  • The Secretary of USDA should appoint an advisory committee to develop universal nutrition standards for all foods and beverages served on school campuses in order to promote food choices that contribute to a healthy eating pattern. (e.g.,vending, a la carte, school store options, competitive foods). This committee should be comprised of persons with interest and specific expertise in child nutrition and health, dietetics, and school food service and operations. 
    
    
    • USDA should provide guidance to states and districts in consultation with key stakeholders, such as ADA and American School Food Service Association (ASFSA), on food and beverage contracts. All foods and beverages (including those sold in vending machines, as part of the school lunch and a la carte in the school cafeteria, in school stores and other areas where foods are sold) should comply with the universal nutrition standards and contribute to dietary patterns consistent with federal nutrition and dietary guidelines.
      
      
  • USDA should issue guidance to states regarding the time students have to purchase and consume meals. Guidance should highlight the need for students to have adequate time available to obtain and eat school meals. Such guidance should be tied to meal reimbursement.  The USDA should work with the Department of Education to review considerations of minimum time periods once students are seated with their meals.
    
    
  • USDA initiatives should support fruit and vegetable intake throughout the school day.
    
    
  • The requirement for milk beverage should be continued; schools should have the flexibility to decide what types of milk to offer so that school meals are nutritionally and cost equivalent to current offerings.  Lower-fat milk is among the healthiest choice.
    
    
  • Require that the Director of the School Nutrition Program at the district level obtain a national certification (ASFSA-SFNS[1], RD, DTR or other deemed appropriate by the Secretary).
    
    
  • The Director of the School Nutrition Program possesses the knowledge and skills and should be involved in the decision-making process on all food and beverages served on the school campus to ensure that students can make healthy food and beverage choices throughout the day.
    
    
  • Planning for the nutritional intake of children with special food and nutrition needs requires the biochemical and food science knowledge that only registered dietitians possess. Mandate that RDs make decisions that address the nutritional intake/needs of children with special health-care needs (e.g., allergies, diabetes, medication interaction with foods, lactose intolerant, enteral feedings, special formulas, HIV/AIDS, dialysis, etc.). 
    
    
  • Reimbursement rates should be increased. The amount of the increase will be determined after analyzing data being collected by Government Accounting Office on meal costs. An analysis by OANE/FNS[2] for school year 2000, determined that free meal reimbursements for lunch were 6 cents short, reduced price were 36 cents short and full-paid were 18.75 cents short.
    
    
• Strengthening nutrition education and promotion in School Nutrition Programs.

Enhance nutrition education, evaluation, and the Team Nutrition program by adding a state-level infrastructure and networking component to coordinate nutrition education activities across child nutrition programs and conduct evaluations to determine effectiveness and enhance program operations.

Well-designed and effectively implemented school-based nutrition education is essential to helping children improve nutrition knowledge, attitudes and behavior. Education efforts are likely to be more effective when combined with positive changes to the school environment, like improving the quality of school meals and promoting more fruits and vegetables.  The complexities of the food environment coupled with dynamic family structures and increasing independence of children, underscore the need for enhanced nutrition education efforts in schools.  Environmental changes—like increasing healthy beverage choices in vending machines—coupled with effective nutrition education, go hand in hand. The coordination of classroom and cafeteria experiences provides greater opportunities for students to practice skills and develop lifelong healthy eating habits.  While nutrition education is essential to promote positive dietary habits, many programs have not been evaluated or shown to be particularly effective in bringing about positive behavior changes.  While USDA’s Team Nutrition program includes a number of essential components for delivering nutrition education, it is deficient in two critical areas:  infrastructure and evaluation.  To address these needs, ADA recommends the following enhancements to the existing Team Nutrition program:

• Increase funding for Team Nutrition by adding $50 million annually for the Team Nutrition infrastructure component; $10 million will go towards funding staff in each state, $10 million will go towards conducting essential evaluations of nutrition education programs, $30 million will go towards program funds, to be distributed to each state, for conducting program operations including surveillance, technical assistance, grants to local districts, etc.  The current level of funding for Team Nutrition—$10 million per year—shall be maintained.  Total request for this recommendation is $60 million.
  
  
• Increasing funding for Child Nutrition Program research.

This funding will:

• Allow FNS to conduct research on and evaluation of their programs. 
• Allow FNS to develop a comprehensive research agenda.
• Encourage FNS to develop a research agenda with input from key stakeholders as well as an open process for all qualified researchers to bid on FNS research projects.

• Visit www.asfsa.org