Stabenow: Senate Passes Bill to Give More Children Healthy Meals at School

Press Release

Today U.S. Senator Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) praised Senate passage of the bipartisan Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act, which passed unanimously last week. This bill increases access to school lunches and afterschool meals and raises the nutritional standards for all foods served in schools. It also encourages schools to serve locally produced foods in their cafeterias. Last year, 82,000 Michigan children received a breakfast, lunch, supper or snack through the Child and Adult Care Food Program and nearly 60% of Michigan's 140 million school lunches were served for free or at reduced costs.

"Our children need access to nutritious food at their schools in order to succeed in the classroom," said Stabenow. "This bill helps fight childhood hunger while encouraging young people to enjoy healthier food choices, like the fruits and vegetables we grow in Michigan."

As a senior member of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry, Senator Stabenow strengthened the Fruits and Vegetables Snack Program in the 2008 Farm Bill to give schools the option of purchasing food from local farmers. She also championed an initiative, recently funded through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and the Fiscal Year 2010 Agriculture Appropriations Act, to give schools the resources they need to upgrade their kitchens to allow for on-site meal preparation. Michigan schools have already received over $3 million for these upgrades.

The Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act makes sure more children have access to healthy food at school. The bill expands the Child and Adult Care Food Program's after-school supper program so more children can get a healthy meal after school hours. This provision is based on the bipartisan AFTERSchool Meals Act that Senator Stabenow and Senator Lugar (R-IN) authored. This bill also reduces administrative overhead and burdensome paperwork so schools in high-poverty areas can more easily offer free meals to students in need. Up to 350 Michigan schools could qualify, helping up to 123,000 children get free lunches across the state.

The Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act also takes necessary steps to give our children healthier food choices. This legislation gives the Secretary of Agriculture the authority to establish national nutrition standards for all foods sold on the school campus throughout the school day. It also provides $25 million for schools to establish on-site gardens to help increase the use of fresh ingredients in school meals and increases schools' reimbursement rate by 6 cents per lunch if they meet new meal standards to provide children with healthier options.

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