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Republicans push through legislation that would allow schools to skip new nutrition standards

Congresswoman Chellie Pingree opposed a Republican effort today to roll back new nutrition standards for school lunches. Pingree is a member of the House Appropriations Committee, which today passed a bill that included a provision that would let school districts opt out of the new standards.

"This would be a step backwards for students and a win for big food companies that want to sell more prepackaged, highly processed foods to school lunch programs," Pingree said. "Obesity and diabetes have become huge public health problems and the new nutrition standards are a major step toward addressing the cause of these epidemics. Students deserve a better, healthier lunch and this effort to roll back the standards would make it less likely that they get that."

When Pingree's committee took up the bill today she supported an amendment that would have eliminated the opt-out program. Republicans on the committee blocked the amendment, and voted to include the opt-out provision in the final bill.

Pingree voted against the overall bill, which funds the U.S. Department of Agriculture, because it contained the language that rolls back the nutrition standards. The standards are part of the Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010 and have already led to improvements in the health of students.