Quality Nutrition in Schools Examples
State
Vermont Promotes Farm-to-School Programs
The Vermont General Assembly passed a law increasing the use of local farm products in school meal programs, regulating child-care programs and enabling a local foods mini-grant program with awards of up to $15,000. Schools, school districts and consortiums of schools and school districts may use the mini-grant awards to purchase equipment, resources and materials that will help to increase use of local foods in the school food service program. Additional items covered by the awards include local farm products, which will help teachers use hands-on educational techniques to teach children about nutrition and farm-to-school connections. The awards also help provide professional development and technical assistance to increase teachers’ capacity to educate students about nutrition and farm-to-school connections. The law includes outreach and education to farmers and training for food service personnel as well.
www.farmtoschool.org/VT/programs.htm
West Virginia Board of Education Adopts Model Nutrition Standards
Board Policy 2520.5 (2008) requires students in grades K to12 to receive instruction in identifying characteristics of healthy and unhealthy foods, describing and understanding the value of the food pyramid, analyzing menus from fast-food restaurants and culturally different restaurants for nutritional value, and developing decision-making processes to set goals for making healthy food choices. Board Policy 4320 (2001) also recommends, if grant funds are available, that nutrition education programs be provided for students.
http://wvde.state.wv.us/policies/p4321.1.pdf
http://nasbe.org/healthy_schools/hs/state.php?state=West%20Virginia#Nutrition_Education
California School Food and Beverage Acts
In 2007, California passed new legislation aimed at providing nutritious foods and beverages to school children. The state set nutrition standards for the foods that schools can sell outside of meal programs. The standards limit the fat, saturated fat, sugar and overall calories contained in sold in schools. They also limit the types of beverages that can be sold, allowing schools to sell only water, milk, certain juices and electrolyte replacement beverages.
www.cde.ca.gov/nr/ne/yr08/yr08rel124.asp
www.cde.ca.gov/ls/nu/sn/mbnsdsnp082008.asp
Local
Five Philadelphia Schools Scale Back on Junk Food
Five Philadelphia elementary schools replaced sodas with fruit juice, cut back on snacks and eliminated candy. They encouraged healthy eating by handing out raffle tickets to children who made wise food choices and spent hours teaching kids, their parents and teachers about good nutrition. A comparative analysis found that after two years, the overall number of overweight students at the five schools dropped about 10 to 15 percent. At the no-change schools, the number of overweight children rose by up to 20 percent.
www.thefoodtrust.org/php/press/news_detail.php?id=73
Pioneering California Counties and Cities Implement Healthy Vending Machine Policies
Three California counties (Contra Costa, Marin and Santa Clara) and two cities (Berkeley and San Jose) have passed healthy vending machine policies. The County of San Diego Department of Parks and Recreation also has a healthy vending machine policy, which is required for all its sites. In addition, a policy in Baldwin Park requires that vending machines in youth facilities, such as teen and community centers, family service centers, public pools and city parks, carry healthy food.
www.banpac.org/healthy_vending_machine_toolkit.htm
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