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Funding for the Nutrition Education and Training Program (NET) - Statement to USDA, June 11, 1998

June 11, 1998

As Congress works to fund food and nutrition assistance programs operated by the U.S. Department of Agriculture for fiscal year 1999, a crucial nutrition education effort that benefits millions of the nation's schoolchildren is in danger of being lost in the political shuffle.

The American Dietetic Association is strongly urging Congress to fully fund the Nutrition Education and Training Program, or NET, a two-decades-old federal program that brings nutrition education into the classroom and school cafeteria and provides training at local levels on planning and preparing healthy meals.

NET helps children, teachers, parents and caregivers at the nation's 94,000 public schools by making it possible for states and local channels to fully implement nutrition education efforts. The program gives children the opportunity to learn in the lunchroom -- as they learn in the classroom -- the importance of healthy eating.

However, budget legislation now under consideration by a Senate Appropriations subcommittee contains no funding for state nutrition efforts for fiscal year 1999. (It is unclear at this time what actions the House Appropriations subcommittee has taken.)

If this critical child nutrition program is not funded, the infrastructure needed to deliver nutrition-education activities will cease to exist. As a result, the overall federal commitment to educating American children about the importance of healthy eating could be cut to less than 4 cents per child.

According to the ADA, children will still be able to participate in school breakfast and lunch programs, but without funding for NET, nutrition education will be seriously curtailed.

In the short term, children may opt for less-nutritious food choices and meal preparers will be denied important tools and resources necessary to prepare and promote healthy food items.

In the long run, children could establish patterns of poor eating habits, resulting in such social problems as increased health-care costs and lost productivity.

The ADA urges Congress to do its part to address nutrition education and provide full funding for NET. The state infrastructure so critical to the nation's nutrition education efforts for children must not be dismantled.

For more information, contact ADA's Office of Government Affairs, 202/775-8277