Healthy, Organic Cereals Pave the Way for Good Food in Schools

According to the Wall Street Journal, the nation’s childhood-obesity rates have tripled since the 1970s, and legislators are clashing over the effectiveness of recent federal rules mandating healthier fare in schools. While it seems the regulations are getting more children to make better choices, there hasn’t been a ‘measurable’ health impact yet.

In 2010, Congress passed the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act, which the NY Times calls “the first significant overhaul of school meal programs in about 15 years.” The law updated the nutritional standards that school districts must meet in order to qualify for federal subsidies and smartly removed the option of soda, candy and other junk food.

Margo Wootan, director of nutrition policy at the Center for Science in the Public Interest, said schools have made huge improvements since the regulations went into effect in 2012 and 2013. “It’s not anywhere near perfect,” she said, “but this is a journey toward providing healthier meals that kids will like.”

“One 28-gram serving of Back to the Roots Cinnamon Clusters, for instance, has half as much sugar and four-fifths as many calories as the same amount of Kellogg’s Frosted Mini-Wheats, which are still offered in New York schools. The Kellogg product is made of five ingredients, including the preservative butylated hydroxytoluene and gelatin, and has eight added vitamins. The Back to the Roots cereal has just four ingredients, no preservatives and no added vitamins; it is certified organic, and organic vitamins are hard to find.” – The NY Times

YOU can make a profound impact and improve conditions for child development and public health by getting involved. Support local grassroots and/or statewide organizations that promote healthy food in schools, and advocate for the necessary systemic change to make health a priority. The Coalition for Healthy School Food is a New York nonprofit, which I have worked with on many occasions, including participation in their annual fall gala that raises awareness and funds for healthy school food. 

Composting Saves the Planet (and Puts Money in Some People’s Wallet)

Last month, the NY Times published an article naming, Charles Vigliotti, as New York’s charming and successful Compost King, a man who’s 62-acre rural plot for business is actually based here on Long Island. Vigliotti, the ‘king’ and chief executive of American Organic Energy, chose to invest in food compost not because of some vision to be environmentally friendly, but rather, for the same reason many New Yorkers choose, that is to make money! His soon-to-be-built Yaphank plant (and largest anaerobic digester east of Mississippi) will contractually collect 23,000 tons of city food waste where it will mingle with another 155,000 tons of scraps from two other counties in the state. 

According to the NY Times, Vigliotti knew this “massive and high-tech” anaerobic digester would pay-off, not only transforming food waste into clean energy, but by literally lining his pockets with greens. That is, because unlike oil and gas, which are expensive to dig out of the ground, food waste is something that cities are already willing to pay to have hauled away.

Until recently, food waste has been a growing issue for urban and densely populated areas where there has not been innovations in food waste plants or clear opportunities for food-waste producers (yes, that’s us!) to dispose of uneaten, rotten, or (sadly) ugly food. Now, there are an increasing number of pilot programs in neighborhoods for compost pick-up and local farmer’s markets, which collect your scraps, and in some states, city-wide regimented food disposal standards on par with trash and recycling. Vigliotti is not the only one to see the business opportunities in food waste, including companies like Imperfect Fruits whose efforts aim at keeping “cosmetically challenged” food out of landfills, and a Montreal Meals-on-Wheels program focused on issues of food waste and security, and of course, the impact of community gardening. 

The NYC Food Policy at Hunter College recently published a great study focused on these two concurrent issues of food insecurity and food waste; highlighting the process and dynamics of gleaning to reduce food waste and maximize the amount of excess crops rescued.