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[music playing] Well, school lunches I think people seem
to lump them all together and they forget
that the USDA reimbursable meals, what we consider
to be kind of the standard school lunch,
has to meet the dietary guidelines for Americans.
So there are limits on how much fat, how much sodium.
They have to serve a certain amount of fruits and vegetables.
Those meals tend to be the healthiest choices
that those kids have.
The other choices, the a la carte choices currently are not
subject to any guidelines unless the school district sets
those guidelines.
So for instance, there are actually school districts
nationwide that serve name-brand fast food.
Those obviously don't adhere to the USDA guidelines.
Even if it's not name-brand fast food, if it's things like pizza,
hamburgers and french fries, tacos you don't know
if they're actually meeting guidelines or not.
So those foods are foods that parents need
to ask for information.
There actually have been some studies that have been done
in Minnesota and nationally that have actually looked
at changing alternatives.
So maybe they still have french fries,
but they used baked french fries.
Or maybe they still sell chips in the vending machines
but they use low-fat or baked chips.
And what they've actually found is if you make smaller changes
like that, so that you don't completely eliminate specific
foods but you go to a healthier option,
that schools do not usually lose the revenue
that they think they will.
Ideally what we'd really like to see is
that parents model great behaviors at home
as the children are growing up.
So by the time they get to kindergarten
or first grade they're used to having a vegetable with a meal,
they're used to drinking milk with a meal.
It really makes the job of the food service easier.
The best thing that parents can do is actually work
with their school district to advocate that all
of their food choices meet either the IOM standards,
and there are some standards that have been put out that are
for all foods whether they're a la carte or USDA approved,
so that you know whatever choice your child makes it's going
to fit within a recommended set of food items.
So I think to be sort of the gold standard would be
to have every school district in Minnesota
or across the nation actually have all of their foods,
a la carte, vending, snacks, everything meet the IOM
and the USDA guidelines.