The Associated Press reports that President Donald J. Trump has scaled back yet another vestige of the Obama era that hampered America's happiness and presented a bleak future for our nation's kids; thanks to President Trump, this time it's the eradication of more-so-than-usual rotten school lunches forced upon our nation's innocents by President Barack Obama.
In an effort to promote healthy eating, First Lady Michelle Obama used her platform to encourage children and schools to exercise and to change their diets. Her husband's administration put in place certain standards for local school districts such as reduced sodium, fat free chocolate milk, and whole grain only requirements for breaded items such as pizza, grilled cheeses, and pasta. Some counties and districts were able to meet these standards and provide decent lunches. But this created numerous problems for schools who were unable to meet such standards, and as what happens with all centralized planning, instead opted for unique and paltry measures to reach these metrics.
The Obama Era School lunch days were so bad in some areas, #ThanksMichelleObama even became a trend as students across the nation showed off their dismal meals.
Here are a few examples:
when your lunch is just different shades of yellow #ThanksMichelleObama pic.twitter.com/EwV5FZqWHi
— ????Merry Megs???? (@TheAmazingMegan) March 30, 2016
A very hearty school lunch. #thanksmichelleobama pic.twitter.com/UyzunH3D0Y
— camryn (@camrynltfb) December 2, 2015
When your school puts cheese on a hot dog bun and calls it "lunch". #ThanksMichelleObama pic.twitter.com/ywbAe618n3
— Betsy Ettinger (@BetsyEttinger) April 19, 2016
However, as reported by NBC News, the U.S. Department of Agriculture recently announced changes to school lunch menus.
via NBC News:
The Trump administration is scaling back contested school lunch standards implemented under the Obama administration including one that required only whole grains be served. The U.S. Department of Agriculture said Thursday only half the grains served will need to be whole grains, a change it said will do away with the current bureaucracy of requiring schools to obtain special waivers to serve select refined grains foods.
Low-fat chocolate milk will also be allowed again. Previously, only fat-free milk could be flavored, although that rule had also been temporarily waived. A final goal for limiting sodium will be scrapped as well, but schools will still be required to meet reduced sodium targets.
Likewise, the School Nutrition Association said that eating whole grains weren't necessarily a problem per se, but requiring whole grain food certain items caused many in various regions across the country.
Diane Pratt-Heavner, a spokeswoman for the association, said whole-grain bread and buns generally aren't a problem. But she said students complained about other items, in many cases because of cultural or regional preferences. Finding whole-grain biscuits and grits that students like are a challenge in the U.S. South, she said, while tortillas are a challenge in the Southwest.
But other organizations disagreed, warning that the standards were working and the changes were unnecessary. For example, "The American Heart Association encouraged schools to 'stay the course' and commit to meeting the stricter standards that started going into effect in 2012."
However, "Brandon Lipps, deputy undersecretary for the USDA's food and nutrition division, said that at some schools that only serve whole grain foods, some is wasted if students won't eat it. In those cases, schools might now consider other options," according to Lipps.
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