bothers me too! i thought i was the parent.

So we don't want our children to eat meat and full-fat dairy, but this is exactly what one of the major children's international aid organizations say that they are trying to provide children in impoverished countries to improve their nutrition and health. I wish I could remember the name of the organization, but it will come to me. What a travesty for American children. Government - get out of our cafeterias!

Hahaha! I haven't thought of "pork chopette" in years! Yep, that was a staple back in the 70s hot lunches here in Brick, along with "whipped potatoes"! :)

I remember pork chopette, it wasn't that bad as I remember. I loved the macaroni and beef (beefy tomato sauce on top of elbow macaroni) and the "chopped Italian salad (shredded iceberg lettus, red cabbage & carrots tossed in Italian dressing with extra oregano). Those were the days when the lunch lady actually cooked stuff rather than just slice open boxes of frozen stuff and reheat.

Agreed about the exercise, it seems that some programs like recess are being cut in some schools which is troubling. Here is a link to the new guidlines, it includes protein and whole grains:
http://www.fns.usda.gov/cnd/governance/legislation/comparison.pdf

So your point is what? No kid EVER gains weight while in school? Remember is isn't just high school but grades K-12. Taxpayers should continue to see their dollars wasted on fatty sugary crap? Have you even looked at the guildlines? Here they are - nothing radical just includes more veggies, whole grains and low fat milk.
http://www.fns.usda.gov/cnd/governance/legislation/comparison.pdf

OMG! Have we become so hysterical and nuts in this country that updating school lunch guidlines (which hasn't been done in decades) is seen as some communist plot? Really? As tax payers we subsidize the school lunch program what is wrong with making sure that what we are paying for isn't unhealthy crap??? God freaking forbid we ever touch the school lunch program - it's carved in stone - and we should never NEVER do anything to improve the quality of food kids are being served right? How dare this administration do ANYTHING to improve nutrition for kids! American kids today are the fattest they have EVER BEEN and are the first generation not expected to live as long as their parents due to obesity but hey no big deal. Obviously a lot of parents DON'T know much about nutrition. Here is the guildlines - it's nothing radical just having kids each more veggies, whole grains and leaner meats and dairy. http://www.fns.usda.gov/cnd/governance/legislation/comparison.pdf

llib: If you're so concerned about the quality of food your kids get in school, then why not be a GOOD parent and take the time to make them a DECENT lunch! Why do you need to depend on government to feed your kids decently? Part of the problem today is that too many people don't want to accept responsibility and want others (e.g. government) to do things for them. What are you going to do for your kid(s) over the summer? Who's going to feed them then? And WHAT are you going to feed them?

Sal: Are you being dense on purpose? Really do you have some kind of learning disablility that prevents you from understanding the concept of improving school lunches? Maybe if it was explained to you using a sock puppet you might get it. Schools...ALL PUBLIC SCHOOLS...sell lunches. WE taxpayers help to subsidize the partial cost of these lunches through our tax dollars. Do you enjoy paying good money for crap??? I don't have any f'ing kids but yet I still pay school taxes and I have no problem with that but I would still like to know that if my tax dollars are funding school lunches then those lunches consist of quality healthy food and not crap. What is wrong with your brain that you seem to resist any attempt to make a program better??? Why the hell shouldn't people expect that the school lunches that they PAY FOR are healthy? Is that a F'ing crime? I swear people like you just love to bitch and bitch about ANYTHING the government does. New flash WE ARE THE GOVENMENT. There is nothing wrong with trying to improve the way the govenment works as citizens it's kinda of our job.

llib: Your language speaks volumes about who and what you are. I went through the public school system 65 years ago when there were no lunch programs at the elementary level. My mother, bless her soul, took care of making my lunch, in addition to holding down a job. In high school we had a school cafeteria, but most students brought their lunch from home.... brown bagged it as it were. We didn't need the government to dictate what we could eat or not eat. Trouble nowadays is that people have become so dependent on having someone else care for them that we are rapidly becoming a country of dependent drones. And no, I don't have a learning disability, but I will admit to being a little dense or stubborn on certain issues, especially when confronted by people who do not choose to take care of their kids and expect others to do it for them. If that upsets you, tough!

65 YEARS AGO! WOW THAT EXPAINS IT. Sal 65 years ago few women worked outside the home. These days you would be hard pressed to find a household where BOTH parents don't have to work FULL TIME. NO IS DICTATING TO YOU WHAT YOU CAN AND CAN'T EAT!!! If anyone wants to send their kid to school with a bag full of ring-dings they can, really who cares? The school lunch program is not a charity. The majority of kids (or parents) buy their school lunch. We taxpayers subsidze the PART OF THE COST. I really don't know what weird objection you have to making sure that the school lunches served are healthy. Maybe your just a little senile and you think the world is the same as it was in 1947! It's not I can assure you. The bottom line is the school lunch system was way overdue for a overhaul it hasn't been updated since Reagan declared that ketchup was a veggie. Taxpayers have been partially funding school lunches that for the last few years were not very healthy - we were getting ripped off. Finallly someone looked at it and made some changes to make them a little more healthy. No INTELLIGENT person can possibly have a problem with that. If YOU want to shovel unhealthy crap down your throught NO ONE is stopping you please enllighten us where they are.

After re-reading your post I now realize that your real objection is that kids are allowed to buy or have provided to them (if poor) any school lunches. Sorry but the world is not going to stay frozen as it was in 1947. The economy will never go back to the simple days where only one person could support a household. Get over it.

LLIB: First, I am certainly not senile… at least not yet. Why do you feel a need to insult those whose opinions differ from yours? By the way, why is it you don't use your real name? Afraid of something? Second, in one of your posts you suggested that people "get hysterical" about a communist plot. Don't think I ever used the word "communist" in any of my comments. I do get concerned about having too much government intervention in our lives, attempting to control every aspect of what we do. Do you know (or care) that in Brick there is an ordinance that makes it against the law to feed the squirrels? This in a community dominated by oak trees which produce nuts, not all of which grow on trees. Third, you mention about both parents having to work nowadays, but you apparently failed to note that I said my mom worked (as did my father), but she still found time to make lunches for my sister and me. Fourth, I never said I was against kids eating nutritious meals, only that it should be a parental responsibility… you know (maybe not) where mothers or fathers, hopefully both, take care of their kids??? Sure, there are circumstances where the truly needy deserve help, but I have witnessed many abuses to the system where people collecting food stamps go to the store in high priced SUVs, or some on disability working on the side in construction milking the system for which we all pay. More to follow.

For LLIB, continued from above: Maybe these things don't bother many, but they bother me, especially when taxes continue to soar and the government keeps giving handouts just so that politicians can be re-elected to office. Maybe I won't see it in what's left of my lifetime, but maybe you will be around to see and suffer the collapse of our entire economic system. We can't keep giving money away and expect others to pay the bill. THINK, LLIB, what happens when those who are forced to provide the money to those who are on the receiving end finally throw their hands up in despair! Some of you think the money source is inexhaustible, but it isn't. The country is already 16 trillion in debt, mostly to China. What happens when they call in the mark? Hope you can read and speak Chinese! And what of your kids' nutrition then? Hope they can survive on rice!

I totally agree with Abrickmom! Not TASTING what you've cooked or baked is assinine. Any chef worth his/her salt knows that you have to TASTE the product to see if it's been executed CORRECTLY. So, I guess the culinary arts instructor will have that task, while the students clean up. Poor kids. 'Glad my son had home economics in high school LAST year---at least the kids got to sample what they had made! I have a feeling that enrollment in this elective course is going to drop, bigtime, and may eventually go by the wayside as a class from a bygone era.

Perhaps they should be permitted to taste their creations, but not swallow them....
That's what wine, tea and coffee tasters do.