School Breakfast Program, (16)
National School Lunch Program, (17) and
Since 1969 the sixfold increase in the number of students receiving free and reduced-price lunches has been the driving force behind the growth in USDA's
National School Lunch ProgramLast year, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) approved irradiated food for the
National School Lunch Program despite overwhelming objections from thousands of people who commented on the proposal.
Three states are offering irradiated meat products to students this year as part of the
National School Lunch Program, according to the US Department of Agriculture's Food and Nutrition Service.
The
National School Lunch Program provides nutritionally balanced, low-cost, or free meals to millions of children each school day.
Buchanan deliberately went after and won contracts with the Defense Commissary Agency and the
national school lunch program. "Lenders respect government contracts," he says.
The
National School Lunch Program serves more than 26 million meals a day, in 95 percent of the nation's public schools.
Discounts range from 20 to 90 percent, depending on the level of economic need as measured by the percentage of students eligible for the
national school lunch program Discounts are slightly higher for institutions in rural areas.
Undersecretary Haas says, "The School Meals Initiative for Healthy Children has already led to the most widespread changes in school meals since the
National School Lunch Program began in 1946." All schools that are part of the
National School Lunch Program have been invited to participate in Team Nutrition.
Senator Patrick Leahy of Vermont is promoting a bill that would add a mandatory percentage of organic produce to the
national school lunch program. And hundreds of chefs, many from the nation's most exclusive restaurants, recently signed a charter pledging to actively promote "locally grown, seasonally fresh and whole or minimally processed ingredients," grown using "environmentally sustainable farming."
The new meals fall below federal nutritional standards; therefore, any school serving only McDonald's lunches gets kicked out of the federal government's
National School Lunch Program.
District 220's elementary and middle schools will stay on the
National School Lunch Program that provides federal reimbursements for students eligible for free and reduced-price meals.