USDA: Schools Sending Mixed Message

W A S H I N G T O N, Feb. 7, 2001 -- Schools that raise money by selling sodas and

snacks on campus are sending mixed messages and discouraging kids

from eating healthy meals, the Agriculture Department says.

In a report prepared at the request of Congress, the departmentsays it should have the legal authority to set nutrition standardsfor all foods and beverages sold in schools.

USDA already requires school lunches and breakfasts to meetnutritional standards, but it would take an act of Congress for thedepartment to begin regulating what is served outside cafeterias.

"When children are taught in the classroom about good nutritionand the value of healthy food choices but are surrounded by vendingmachines, snack bars, school stores and a la carte sales offeringlow nutrient density options, they receive the message that goodnutrition is merely an academic exercise," the report says.

Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman, who took office last month,is reviewing the report's proposals, spokesman Kevin Herglotz saidTuesday. The report was completed in the final days of the Clintonadministration and recently posted on the department's Web site.

Pop Machines Everywhere

"You walk outside the door of the cafeteria and the halls arelined with pop machines," said Marilyn Hurt, president of theAmerican School Food Association. "There's nothing to prevent thestudent from spending their money on pop and candy instead of goingin and getting a sandwich, milk and a piece of fruit."

Soft drink contracts have become a popular fund-raiser forcash-strapped schools, and cafeterias are also offering anincreasing array of items that include snacks, desserts andflavored drinks.

Between 1996 and 1997, more than 30 percent of school districtsincreased the number of snacks they were offering in cafeterias,and 22 percent widened the array of desserts, a separate USDAreport says.

No information was available on sodas sold outside cafeterias,but about 200 of the nation's 12,000 school districts havecontracts that give soft drink companies exclusive rights to selltheir products in schools, according to the National Soft DrinkAssociation.

Charles County, Md., school officials recently signed a contractgiving the Coca-Cola Co. exclusive rights to sell its products incounty schools. In return, Coca-Cola gives the schools 45 percentof the sales and an additional $175,000 a year. The school systemis using the money to eliminate a $50 per student athletic fee aswell as fees for cooking and other vocational classes.

"This arrangement is really benefitting all of our students andtheir families," said Katie O'Malley-Simpson, a school districtspokeswoman.

The Agriculture Department imposed restrictions on soft drinksand other items sold outside cafeterias in 1977, but a courtoverturned the rules in 1983.

Although Congress asked for the latest report, school officials,beverage makers and the food industry are likely to object stronglyto the department's recommendations.

Sean McBride, a spokesman for the soft drink association, saidit was the department's fault that students don't want to eatschool lunches.

"The food is lousy, it takes too long to get through theline," he said. "This is an attempt to point the blame at anybodybut who's responsible."