Who Decides What Your Children Are Eating?

[Guest guest]

http://www.alternet.org/bloggers/http://newsproject.org/128555/Who Decides What Your Children Are Eating?By Steven Greenstreet, American News Project Posted on February 24, 2009, Printed on March 2, 2009The food lobby goes to school.To a large degree, it is the Federal Government, Congress and the Department of Agriculture approve what foods can (and can't) be served to over 30 million American school children who get daily meals from the National School Lunch Program. The government gets a ton of pressure from a food and beverage industry frantic to keep kids hooked on a diet of sodas, snacks and hot dogs. The competition, for a piece of this $10 billion market, is particularly fierce right now because this year, the School Lunch Program is being reviewed and revised. Despite the enormous nutritional and financial stakes at play, ANP was the only media to cover a recent panel set up to discuss the school menu. While nutritionists outnumbered the press, corporate lobbyists outnumbered everyone. Coincidentally, this article was released in the New York Times recently: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/20/opi... =====In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.