20 States Get "F" Grades for School Food Policies

Twenty U.S. states get failing grades for their school food policies, and only two -- Kentucky and Oregon -- earn an A-minus, according to a new report card from the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI).

The CSPI graded all 50 states and the District of Columbia based on their school standards for food nutrition, beverage nutrition and grade levels, times of day and campus locations covered by their regulations. The results showed that a full two-thirds of states have weak standards for school nutrition, or no standards at all beyond the "bare-bones" rules set by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).

"Over the last ten years, states have been strengthening their school nutrition policies," said Margo G. Wootan, the CSPI's director of nutrition policy. "But overall, the changes, while positive, are fragmented, incremental, and not happening quickly enough to reach all children in a timely way."

On the positive side, two states -- Oregon and Washington -- earned most-improved honors from the CSPI. Both received failing grades in the CSPI's 2006 report card, but moved up to an A-minus (Oregon) and a B-plus (Washington) this year.

Oregon's improvement came after the state passed a comprehensive school nutrition policy that limits calories, saturated fats, trans fats and sugars in snacks, and restricts the sales of most sugary beverages.

"You would think that with all the concern about childhood obesity that getting junk food and soda out of schools would be easy," said Mary Lou Hennrich, who led the effort to improve nutrition in Oregon schools. "But, it took us six years of hard work to pass our school nutrition legislation."

Hennrich is executive director of the Community Health Partnership: Oregon's Public Health Institute.

The CSPI report card graded states as follows: A-minus (Kentucky, Oregon), B-plus (Nevada, Alabama, Arkansas, California, Washington, New Mexico), B (New Jersey, Arizona, Tennessee), B-minus (Louisiana, Texas, West Virginia, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Florida), C-plus (Hawaii), C (Maine, Mississippi, Illinois, District of Columbia), C-minus (Colorado, South Carolina), D-plus (New York, Maryland, North Carolina), D (Oklahoma, Virginia), D-minus (Indiana, Georgia), F (Alaska, Delaware, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Utah, Vermont, Wisconsin, Wyoming).

Nationwide, only 2 percent of all children eat a healthy diet, according to USDA data. Obesity rates for children and adolescents have tripled over the past 20 years. Despite such statistics, though, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention finds that sugary drinks, snack cakes, candy and chips continue to be sold at about one-third of the country's elementary schools, 71 percent of middle schools and 89 percent of high schools.

In response to concerns about children's nutrition and obesity, U.S. Senators Tom Harkin (D, Iowa) and Lisa Murkowski (R, Alaska) plan to introduce legislation that would require the USDA to update its nutritional standards for foods sold in the nation's schools.

Center for Science in the Public Interest, "Two-thirds of States Get Poor Grades on School Food Report Card." URL: (http://www.cspinet.org/new/200711281.html)