Originally published June 28 2005
USDA refuses to enforce its own school junk food rule
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
The U.S. Department of Agriculture has done little to enforce its rule against schools serving junk food, and when Commercial Alert sent a petition demanding the USDA enforce the rule as written, the reply was, "No".
The junk food industry won a major victory yesterday, when the U.S. Department of Agriculture rejected a petition that it enforce its own competitive foods rule, which prohibits public schools from selling "foods of minimal nutritional value" during mealtimes in school cafeterias.
The rule was designed to promote the health of school children, but enforcement today is lax to non-existent.
In the petition, Commercial Alert requested simply that the USDA enforce the rule as written.
"It is outrageous that the USDA is refusing to enforce its own rules against selling junk food in public schools," said Gary Ruskin, executive director of Commercial Alert.
"Last week, the Bush administration caved in to tobacco industry, and this week they caved in to junk food industry," Ruskin said.
"For the Bush administration, big corporations come first, and our children's health comes last."
The USDA denied Commercial Alert's petition for rule-making, despite overwhelming public support for restricting the sale of junk food to schoolchildren.
A Wall Street Journal poll in February, 2005, found that 83% of American adults believe "public schools need to do a better job of limiting children's access to unhealthy foods like snack foods, sugary soft drinks and fast food."
Foods of minimal nutritional value are defined as soda pop, water ices, chewing gum, and certain types of candies, such as hard candies, jellied candies, licorice and marshmallows.
Executives and lobbyists from companies that produce junk food for schoolchildren generously contributed to the Bush/Cheney 2004 campaign.
� Barclay T. Resler, vice president for government and public affairs, Coca-Cola.
It worked hard to weaken the World Health Organization's global anti-obesity strategy, and went so far as to question the scientific basis for "the linking of fruit and vegetable consumption to decreased risk of obesity and diabetes."
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