Supporting Good, Clean, and Fair Food

The Slow Food USA Blog

Secretary Vilsack speaks to the people

Posted on Thu, February 11, 2010 by Jerusha Klemperer
2 Comments | Categories: Farms and Farming, Film/TV/Radio, Food Justice, News, Current Events, Policy, School Food, Take Action,

Print Icon Print this Page Email Icon Send to a Friend
Bookmark and Share

by intern Julia Landau

Yesterday afternoon, USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack hosted a conference call for ordinary citizens where he explained the Administration’s priorities for the Child Nutrition Act. There were 1,000 people on the call, which is incredible – and which demonstrates the momentum behind making real improvements to child nutrition programs.

What was the number one thing Vilsack recommended we do to improve the food in our country’s schools? SPEAK UP. While Vilsack noted the immense interest in this issue and clear public support for getting healthier food into schools, he also stressed that this issue isn’t appearing in the national media and the only way to get the message through to Congress is grassroots advocacy. What does this mean? Our Secretary of Agriculture is calling on us to contact our Senators and Representatives as they move on this bill – and to get media coverage as we do it. You can find a great jumping-off point right here at Slow Food USA’s Time for Lunch Campaign.

Vilsack also stressed community involvement in small-scale agriculture through the USDA’s program Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food. Check it out for resources and grants to support local food in your community.

The people on the call today were 1,000 small farmers, food service providers, PTA members, teachers, doctors, and dieticians. In answering their questions, Vilsack outlined some key focus areas for the Administration: increasing the nutritional value of school food; strengthening farm-to-school programs; providing training and equipment in school kitchens; providing healthy food during non-school days; expanding enrollment in reduced and free lunch programs; and supporting the new 60 minutes of play a day initiative. In general, he voiced his support for the First Lady’s new childhood obesity effort, Let’s Move.

So you heard it, folks. We know how important Child Nutrition Reauthorization is - now, it’s time to make Congress and the media understand as well.

 

 


Member Comments

From Elizabeth on Fri, February 12, 2010

I was on this very inspiring call, where my former governor (now Secy. of Ag Vilsack) responded thoughtfully—and often, very in depth—to the 25-some folks who asked questions.

One of the callers was Dr. Neal Barnard.  He pointed to the importance of plant-based meal options for schoolchildren, given the concern about reducing fat, outlined in the Institute of Medicine’s report on school nutrition.  That report emphasized the importance of grains, vegetables, and fruits.

From Robert L. Morrow on Fri, February 12, 2010

Just how do you think we can help the problem when our government spends billions of taxpayer dollars in subsidies to the High Fructose Corn Syrup plus mercury is put into our food supplies to poison us.  I think that this M. Obama thing is a farce. Just think about it and read food labels.  I ask why this poison is in sausages, hot dogs, breads, canned foods, soft drinks and so and so on.  Would you eat a couple large bowls of straight sugar in a day? No you would not, but yet drink 4 sodas (cokes) eat a couple of hot dogs with buns and toppings. Then for dessert a little ice cream with syrup toppings and a doughnut to complete the meal. All this laced with HFCS plus mercury. 
So, stop making the people sick and stop the money bribes to people making the poisoning of our nation. I teach healthy cooking for the Cancer awareness people in Alamogordo New Mexico and do my best to show how the government is spending billions to make us sick so they can pass a trillion dollar country busting health care bill which make more and more government to kill the the Republic of the Untied States and the Constitution Chef Robert here in the Land Of Enchantment.



Post Your Comment

Commenting is not available in this weblog entry.

Monthly Archives

Category Archives

Find Slow Food in your State