Child Nutrition Act

Speaking out on Child Nutrition

Every five years Congress reauthorizes the Child Nutrition Act, which governs all the nutrition programs operated by USDA, as well as the supplemental feeding program for women, infants and children (WIC). The sale of fluid milk alone through federal school programs accounts for almost six percent of all milk sold in the United States.

When USDA held a series of listening sessions around the country last year, IDFA was in the forefront, submitting comments, encouraging members to participate and helping to develop their testimony and comments. Collaborating with its Nutrition Working Group, IDFA offered several proposals to address growing government and congressional concerns about childhood obesity and nutrition.

IDFA is an active member of the Child Nutrition Forum, a group of organizations working with Congress to improve children's access to healthy foods through schools and other nutrition services. IDFA also joined the American Commodity Distribution Association, a non-profit dedicated to improving USDA's Commodity Food Distribution Program. Through these groups, IDFA continues to promote dairy's importance in the diets of children and adolescents, especially through federal nutrition programs.

For the WIC program, IDFA recommended increasing the level of dairy products that can be substituted for milk, and including yogurt and reduced-fat cheeses because they appeal to program participants. IDFA asked USDA to purchase more reduced-fat and light cheeses for school lunches and to increase program funding to ensure that cheese remains an important component of the school meal programs.

Miriam Erickson Brown, president and CEO, Anderson Erickson Dairy Company in Des Moines, Iowa, with Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA), chairman of the Senate Agriculture Committee.

A Senate Agriculture Committee hearing this spring on school nutrition provided an opportunity for IDFA and the National Milk Producers Federation to offer joint testimony for the first time. IDFA board member Miriam Erickson Brown testified on behalf of both organizations, outlining the role that lowfat and fat-free milk and other dairy products play in the strategy to lower childhood obesity rates. She urged Congress to set consistent school nutrition standards based on the Dietary Guidelines for Americans.

Defending Nutrition Standards

IDFA delivered both oral and written testimony before the Institute of Medicine's Committee to Review National School Lunch and School Breakfast Program Meal Patterns, which has been charged by USDA to provide nutrition recommendations to bring school meals more in line with today's Dietary Guidelines. IDFA stressed the need for flexible, yet consistent standards that will allow quality nutritional foods that meet school budgets and are popular with students.

The National School Breakfast Program feeds 10 million children a day, and the National School Lunch Program feeds more than 30 million students. Each of these meals is required to offer fluid milk, and cheese and yogurts are also popular in schools.

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