Several weeks ago, Agricultural Secretary Sonny Perdue ordered a rollback of some of the school lunch mandates that had been imposed on American public schools at the behest of former First Lady Michelle Obama. The changes seemed minor enough. Permissible salt levels were raised. Schools would be able to opt not to serve whole grain meals. Students would be offered one percent milk instead of fat-free. However, during a recent speech, Mrs. Obama reacted badly to what was, in effect, a change that would wipe out her legacy.
Michelle Obama takes the new school lunch rules personally
In her speech, Ms. Obama seemed to indicate that the changes in school lunches had less to do about addressing some of the massive problems the Obama-era rules had produced than with dislike of her personally by the new administration. She accused the trump administration of wanting to feed children “crap” for political reasons. In effect, she accused the new government of hating children, according to Hot Air.
Why were the Obama-era school lunch rules so horrible?
The school lunch menus that were developed under the Obama-era regulatory regime seemed to have been created by academic nutritionists who had never had children. The meals may have been nutritious, but they tended to be inedible by any human being.
Most of the school lunches were winding up in the trash and, in any case, would up more expensive to produce, a massive unfunded mandate for school districts across the country.
Some evidence suggests that the Obama school lunch menus were based on junk science, ignoring the nutrition needs of growing children, some of whom were in athletic programs.
The school lunch regime caused a nation-wide, social media driven revolt among America’s students, with the hashtag #ThanksMichelleObama. The program had the effect of starving children, something Democrats usually accuse Republicans of wanting to do.
What happens next with school lunches?
Clearly, some common sense and real science have to be brought to bear to fix the damage inflicted on young people during the Obama presidency.
Some balance will have to be struck between serving nutritious meals and having food that schoolchildren will actually eat. Also, recent science that suggests that government guidelines that have been imposed of the past few decades have been wrong will have to be brought to bear.
One proposal that should be considered would be to convene a special panel of chefs, perhaps from the Food Network and the Cooking Channel, who have children of their own, to devise meals that are not only nutritious but are tasty enough to be eaten. Then some real world experience can be brought to bear on the problem of keeping the kids healthy and fed.
