New School Lunch Law Signed Toward the End of 2010

Mark 2010 down as being a landmark year for a number of important issues. The President signed into law a new tax cut, making an historic compromise with the Republicans in Congress. He also managed to sign the repeal of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell this past year and he signed a new law which will change the way school lunches are prepared.

The Healthy, Hunger Free Kids Act of 2010 was signed by the President toward the end of the year and is intended to re-write the rules for school lunches. The idea is to add in more whole fruits and vegetables in an attempt to combat obesity in children.

A Harbinger for Restaurateurs

The legislation, which was sponsored by Senator Blance Lincoln, Democrat of Arkansas also re-authorized certain federal food nutrition programs which had been in place since 1973. However, even more importantly, the fact that kid’s school lunches are supposed to start becoming healthier means that we as restaurateurs need to change as well. It’s time for us to take a cue from the small chains that have begun trying to offer healthier kids’ menus and to do it ourselves.

Yes, that Issue Again

We’ve talked about this before, however the fact is that even though we ultimately want to make money, we also need to consider the health of our youngest customers. Parents are concerned and the obesity epidemic is one that threatens to engulf the restaurant industry if something isn’t done about getting our kids onto healthier eating choices.

Taking a Page from the First Lady and Smaller Chains

We’ve written in this space about some restaurants that have begun to make the change and about how Michelle Obama has made this her signature initiative. We believe it’s an issue that’s not going to go away and that we as an industry need to learn from the examples set both by the President’s wife and by some of the smaller chains that have decided to try adopting healthy food choices for kids.

Tags: healthy food, new law, school lunch