Some Food Companies Cave to Michelle Obama's School-Lunch Standards

Some of the companies victimized by Michelle Obama’s healthy school lunch guidelines have “quietly backed away” from their opposition to the regulations, reports Politico. The reason? They’ve “done a bang up business since the requirements took effect by adapting their products for the $10 billion market.”

What kind of market are we talking about? It’s certainly not a free market, as schools are forced to serve products that conform to government “nutritional guidelines” and to purchase products from companies that are forced to make them. So yes, businesses do well when the government forces entities to purchase their products.

Some of the revamped recipes include “whole-grain rich Pillsbury breakfast cinnamon rolls, reduced-sodium Schwan’s Big Daddy’s pizza and reduced-fat Doritos.” Congress is set to re-authorize the food law as it expires Sept. 30. Let’s hope they don’t.

A photo of one of the government-mandated, healthy school lunches. Yum.

The Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act set the first new nutritional guidelines “in decades” and Politico reports that it “created fury among congressional Republicans who called it a government overreach.”

It is government overreach. The government has no business mandating what kind of food you or your children eat. None.

What is this?

But, the USDA says that students are eating healthier now. Perhaps they mean the students who haven’t dropped out of the program. Politico reports that “more than a million students have dropped out of the National School Lunch Program since nutrition changes kicked in.”

Some groups are backing a rider to the new appropriation bill that stops future “adjustments” to the guidelines until there is some science to back up the changes. The groups cite “high costs and increased plate waste.”

How can these guidelines be considered successful if there is increased “plate waste” and 1 million fewer kids in the program?

There are still problems with the government-mandated food guidelines, namely with regard to sodium content. If you remove or reduce the sodium content you have a real problem on your hands and it’s not just regarding the taste of the food.

Removing more sodium from the food runs the risk of more kids getting out of the program — and that jeopardizes the entire program, said Gary Vonck, vice president of the education division at KeyImpact Sales & Systems.

Good. It’s time to end this nutritional aberration.