Author: Sara Salo

Tour Milestones

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Lots of exciting happenings in the world of the School Food Tour!

Most importantly, I’m headed  into a local school today to meet with teachers and students. They’re really enthusiastic to assist with the development of the Tour curriculum and I can’t wait to start interacting with the kids. I’ll update ya’ll later on about my day.

Additionally, I’ll be appearing on Keen’s Hybridlife Radio Show on February 9. This is going to be a fantastic opportunity to reach out to a wide audience through this popular internet radio network. Check them out here:

Interesting Wednesday Tidbits

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  • The Political Economy Research Institute released a case study of transportation infrastructure development in Baltimore. Their finding? Pedestrian and bicycle infrastructure projects create 4 to 5  more jobs per $1 million spent than road projects. Another reason to invest in bikes and active transport!
  • A study by the Society of Actuaries published new figures estimating the cost of obesity and overweight. Their number: $300 BILLION.
  • Marion Nestle has written a couple of great articles recently. See this Atlantic piece for a summary on the new school food nutritional standards and her blog post about front-of-package labeling and the dietary quality of supposedly ‘healthier’ kids products.

Also – on a side note: As I progress in planning the School Food Tour I find that I am acquiring exciting new skills that I did not anticipate learning. Such as how to create a website. Cool!

New school lunch nutrition standards – USDA

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The USDA released a revision of USDA nutritional standards today. You can find the entire document here. In summary, the new rules lay out a food-based meal planning system in order to ensure nutrient targets are met. This plan increases the amount of fruits, vegetables and whole grains served. It also includes efforts to limit saturated fat by means of restricting milk offerings to low or non-fat (flavored is still allowed in the non-fat variety). Additionally, the proposal provides new minimum and maximum caloric levels. Lots of progress, let’s keep the momentum alive!

 

Source: Federal Register, A Proposed Rule by the FNS 1/13/11