Got Milk?
The Illinois State School board, acting on a request by Governor Blagojevich that schools ban junk food, has proposed new food rules. The major issue confronting the board was their decision to define what junk food is based on nutritional content rather than ban products by name or food group. The parameters for deciding if a food is not nutritional enough to be available in schools is: food whose calories from total fat exceed 35 percent, food whose calories from saturated fat exceed 10 percent, food whose sugar content exceeds 35 percent, and food whose single-serving calories exceed 200.
So, according to the proposal, whole milk will be on the banned list while baked Cheetos will not. It looks like the new rules, if passed by the full board, will be a lot of work for someone since each food product will have to be looked at in terms of fat and sugar percentages. It is not as simple as it seemed when the Governor asked for a ban on soda pop, candy and chips a couple of weeks ago.
The state school board is meeting next week in order to vote on whether or not to open the proposal to public comment. This might be a wise thing to do because this story has made many national newspapers this morning like this from the Miami Herald with the headline: School Officials Propose Ban of Whole Milk
Let the public see the new rules and give some imput.
4 comments:
I can't belive no one has picked up on the obvious political ramifications of this move.
Obviously, the governor must be worried about Oberweis a lot to try and keep his whole milk about of schools.
Yeah, I'd say they probably ought to take public comment on this rule change, even if the basic premise is sound.
The public will have the chance to comment on the proposed rules. Every state agency, including ISBE, must file proposed rules according to the Administrative Procedures Act. The Act requires a First Notice Period of 45-days during which anyone can submit comments to the agency. The agency must respond in some fashion to each comment. Following that, a second 45-day Second Notice Period occurs during which the Joint Committee on Administrative Rules goes over the rule and any comments. Finally, the Joint Committee itself reviews the rule and can order the agency to modify the rule. While JCAR does not take testimony at its hearings, since its members are legislators, they are sensitive to public comments. JCAR's powers were extensively broadened in 2004 when the Governor gave into such demands as a condition under which he was able to pass his FY 2005 budget.
As far as the proposal itself goes, while it seems a bit goofy, I really don't have a problem with measuring fat content as a method of determining what foods should be on a "junk-food" list. The problem I do have is the notion that local school boards are somehow incapable of making these types of decisions and that only the Blagojevich Administration is.
New menu item:
GIDDY-BERGER
8 oz of soybean meal
Artificial flavor
Shaped into a patty by Dan Proft
Served on rice cakes
Cook on low setting, and toast cakes because this baby can't take much heat.
This reminds me of the old "ketchup" as a food group bit handed down to us a couple of decades back...
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