Foodlinks America - June 19, 2009
Foodlinks America - June 19, 2009
In this issue:
• Nutrition Assistance Moves Forward in Appropriations
• Proposed Legislation
• FEEDBAG: A Compendium of News on Nutrition Assistance Programs
• Nutrition Trends
• Obesity Round-Up
• Reports from the Field – Washington, D.C.
• Small Bites
Foodlinks America is published 24 times a year by California Emergency Foodlink in Sacramento, CA and distributed by Weinberg & Vauthier Consulting, 122 South Main Street, No. 9, Burnet, TX 78611; Zy Weinberg and Barbara Vauthier, Editors; email: bvauthier@tefapalliance.org.
Foodlinks America is not copyrighted, so the information can be freely shared with colleagues and friends, though attribution for reprinted articles is appreciated. For archived issues of Foodlinks America, go to: www.tefapalliance.org. To request a free subscription to the newsletter or to submit story ideas, contact Barbara Vauthier at: bvauthier@tefapalliance.org.
Nutrition Assistance Moves Forward in Appropriations
With completion of a fiscal year 2010 budget resolution in April setting out the parameters for federal spending next year, Congress has begun filling in the details of its appropriations bills. Trying to meet the competing goals of providing needed assistance and keeping the deficit under control will be a challenge.
President Obama has urged Congress to reinstitute pay-as-you-go (also known as PAYGO) budget rules, so that increased future spending does not result in larger deficits. PAYGO procedures, enacted in the 1990s, helped deliver budget surpluses during the Clinton Administration, but were abandoned by Republicans when they controlled the Congress in 2002.
For example, the President has said he would support PAYGO for health care reform, even though that initiative may cost in excess of $1 trillion over the next 10 years. “The pay-as-you-go rule is very simple,” said the President. “Congress can only spend a dollar if it saves a dollar elsewhere.” The Obama Administration, which believes that improved health care coverage for low-income Americans will help ease hunger and nutrition concerns nationwide, has allotted $635 billion in the fiscal year 2010 budget for health care. Approximately $300 billion more in savings from Medicare and Medicaid in future years would help pay for improved health care.
Additionally, President Obama has pledged to end childhood hunger in this country by 2015, in part by bolstering funding for the WIC Program. On June 11, 2009, the House Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee met to mark up a spending bill for next year, and WIC was allocated a record $7.541 billion, $681 million – or 10 percent – above fiscal year 2009 levels. Support at that level would allow the program to serve 10.1 million women and children, 300,000 more than the Administration requested.
“Food costs and participation [for WIC] continue to increase at dramatic rates for fiscal years 2009 and 2010,” noted Subcommittee chair Rosa DeLauro (D-CT). In addition to support for increased caseload, the bill sets aside $125 million for the upcoming WIC reauthorization, encompassing a number of program improvements, such as, increasing fruit and vegetable vouchers, enhancing management information systems, furthering electronic benefit transfer (EBT) technology, and expanding breast feeding peer counseling programs. The panel, however, did not replenish the WIC contingency fund, estimating that an anticipated $487 million in other discretionary funds would be available for that purpose.
As in previous years, WIC spending continued to dominate the discretionary funds category in the Agriculture budget. A little money was left over for other purposes. For example, the Subcommittee did squeeze out another $20 million for the Commodity Supplemental Food Program (CSFP), bringing total funding to $180 million for fiscal 2010, enough to allow six new states to join the program – Arkansas, Delaware, Georgia, New Jersey, Oklahoma, and Utah.
With a proposed PAYGO rule in place, however, Congress will be hard pressed to identify funds for backing other discretionary efforts, such as increasing distribution and storage funding for The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP). TEFAP is struggling to distribute over $600 million in commodity foods this fiscal year. Although up to $100 million is authorized for TEFAP transportation next year, the full amount has never been appropriated.
Proposed Legislation
Among bills recently introduced in the 111th session of the U.S. Congress are the following:
House Resolution (H.R.) 2690: Introduced by Representatives Joe Sestak (D-PA) and two co-sponsors, the School Meal Enhancement Act would create a universal, paperless school meal program that is nationally available.
H.R. 2803: Introduced by Representative Chaka Fattah (D-PA) and two co-sponsors, the Paperless Enrollment for School Meals Act would improve paperless enrollment and efficiency for the national school lunch and school breakfast programs.
H.R. 2841: Introduced by Representative Zachary Space (D-OH) and one co-sponsor, the Promoting Charitable Actions Act would amend the Internal Revenue Code to make permanent the enhanced charitable deduction for contributions of food inventory.
Senate (S.) 1226: Introduced by Senator Robert Casey (D-PA) and two co-sponsors, the Paperless Enrollment for School Meals Act would improve paperless enrollment and efficiency for the national school lunch and school breakfast programs.
For bill summary and status information, along with the text of legislation, visit: http://thomas.loc.gov/ and enter the bill number.
FEEDBAG: A Compendium of News on Nutrition Assistance Programs
Summer feeding options explored: In order to encourage more school food authorities (SFAs) to feed children in their area during vacation time, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has released a four-page chart comparing the various child nutrition programs that benefit children during the summer months. SFAs may use the national school lunch and breakfast programs during the summer, switch to the Summer Food Service Program (SFSP), or select the Seamless Summer Option that reputedly reduces paperwork and administrative burdens. The chart may be viewed at: http://www.fns.usda.gov/cnd/summer/sponsors/CND-SFSP-SeamlessComparisonChart.pdf.
Summer food Q&A: General guidance on the implementation of the SFSP is provided in a 14-page memo with a question and answer format recently issued by USDA. Groups interested in summer feeding can learn more about the program through a review of the memo at: http://www.fns.usda.gov/cnd/summer/Administration/Policy/2008-2009/SFSP03-2009-os.pdf.
Ready-to-use infant formulas: USDA has published a list of iron-fortified infant formulas recommended for use in the Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) that do not require a medical statement when offered to infants in the program. The listing includes some 55 milk-based formula brands and 22 soy-based formulas and may be found at: http://www.fns.usda.gov/cnd/care/Regs-Policy/InfantMeals/FormulaList.htm.
Breakfast assistance made a little easier: USDA issued a final rule for the school breakfast program in the June 15, 2009 Federal Register that formally eliminates the requirement that a school’s costs exceed the rate of reimbursement as a criterion for receiving the higher severe need funding available under the program. For details, see: http://edocket.access.gpo.gov/2009/pdf/E9-14021.pdf.
Nutrition Trends
Bad habits hard to kick: The current bumper crop of admonitions about healthy lifestyle activities – eat five fruits and vegetables a day, exercise more, and stop smoking – continues to be roundly ignored by the majority of Americans. Over the past 20 years, the percentage of Americans age 40 to 74 eating five servings of produce a day dropped from 42 to 26 percent. Only 43 percent of citizens, down from just over 50 percent, exercised 30 minutes at least three times a week. And the obesity rate climbed from 28 to 36 percent. A study with these conclusions appears in the June 2009 issue of The American Journal of Medicine. It is based on national health surveys of over 7,000 individuals in 1988 and 2006.
“The results are disappointing and disturbing,” said Dr. Dana King, a professor of family medicine at the University of South Carolina and author of the study. “These findings have broad implications for the future risk of cardiovascular disease in adults,” noted Dr. King, who pointed out that men’s habits have deteriorated worse than women’s. For more detail, see: http://www.amjmed.com/article/S0002-9343(08)01207-2/abstract.
Not following parental advice: Parents may try to get their children to eat a healthier diet, but a recent study shows the kids are not listening. Researchers from the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health studied the eating habits of more than 2,200 adults and children and found very little resemblance between the diets. Parental education levels and household socioeconomic status had little influence on the results, which were published in the June 2009 edition of The JHUGazette.
“This suggests that parents don’t play as large a role as people have thought in their children’s diet,” stated Dr. Youfa Wang, a professor at Hopkins. “Most parents are not doing as good a job as they should, said Wang. To learn more, go to: http://www.jhu.edu/~gazette/2009/08june09/08eating.html.
New coping mechanisms: The past year of recession has caused many Americans to cut back on expenditures and change their shopping habits to do so. A recent survey by a private market research company found that when it comes to food and beverages, shopper moms are nowadays looking for ways to save money, seeking dishes that are quick and easy to prepare and healthy, and identifying meals to help the family stay within its budget.
To accomplish those objectives, female shoppers say they are: using Wal-Mart and other discount stores more often; buying less expansive brands, including store brands, more frequently; taking advantage of sales to stock up on good deals; and reviewing store advertisements more often to find the best prices. For further information, view:
http://www.npd.com/press/releases/press_090603.html.
Payback for packing produce: Physicians Plus, a health care provider in Madison, WI, is offering “Eat Healthy Rebates” of up to $200 for families that join a local community supported agriculture (CSA) program. Insured members of the organization can get paid for eating more produce when they order a weekly box of vegetables from one of two area CSAs.
Obesity Round-Up
Pregnancy weight gain limited: A pregnant women may be eating for two, but she should not carry too much of a load. National health officials with the Institute of Medicine (IOM) and the National Research Council have revised the advice given to overweight women who become pregnant – limit your weight gain to 11 to 20 pounds, as researchers have found that weight gains before and after pregnancy can lead to problems for both mother and baby.
“It is important for women to gain within (the new guidelines) and if possible, it’s important for women to begin pregnancy at a good weight, ” emphasized Kathleen Rasmussen, a Cornell University nutrition professor who led an IOM committee studying the subject and released a report at the end of May 2009 with revised guidelines for weight gain. “For most women, this means gaining less than they currently gain,” said Rasmussen. To learn more, review the IOM report at: http://www.webmd.com/baby/news/20090528/pregnancy-weight-gain-new-guidelines.
Mom can lead in preventing obesity: New research is finding that the impact of a mother’s behavior on her young children’s weight may be greater than previously thought. Researchers at Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus, OH studied 300 mother-child pairs and divided them into three groups receiving different emphases in nutritional information.
The most successful method was a maternal-focused model that targeted the mother as the agent of change within the family. Theses moms were found to decrease the amount of juice their children consumed, limit television time, and increase fruit consumption.
“The idea was that during the first year of life, repeatedly give mom advice on how she ate at the well-child visits,” said Dr. Judith Groner, professor of pediatrics at Ohio State University. “It’s our hope by seeing what mom does, that down the road, the children would start to eat more organized meals, plan snacks and have less of this constant grazing all the time that can lead to obesity.”
To learn more, go to: http://www.nationwidechildrens.org/gd/applications/controller.cfm?page=204&id=638&type=new.
Childhood obesity may be linked to sleep disorders: Overweight children may have sleep problems related to breathing. Detailed sleep and physical examinations of 700 children Pennsylvania found that “waist circumference and body mass index were strong independent risk factors for snoring and other breathing problems during sleep,” according to a study written up for the June 2009 issue of the journal Sleep.
“This is another red flag related to obesity, another reason to be concerned, said Edward Bixler, a professor of psychiatry at Penn State, who led the research. “The metabolic issues in adults associated with obesity are now beginning to be found in younger children,” he added. For further information, see:
http://www.journalsleep.org/ViewAbstract.aspx?pid=27470.
Reports from the Field – Washington, D.C.
Childhood hunger is a problem in this country. Millions of children who receive free lunches and breakfasts at school during the school year are locked out of the cafeteria in the summer with no place to eat. Consequently, after-school programs have become the provider of last resort, as the following article from The Washington Post of May 30, 2009 appropriately describes:
The budding tennis players at an after-school program in Southeast Washington used to be picky eaters, discarding their fruit or complaining if their sandwiches had strawberry jelly instead of grape.
Now, program director Cora Masters Barry says, they eat everything set in front of them — and then some.
“They’re eating two or three sandwiches and packing others in their backpacks,” said Barry, who runs the Southeast Tennis and Learning Center on Mississippi Avenue. “What we have is never, never enough.”
As the recession forces more families into poverty, a growing number of after-school programs have taken on a crucial but unfamiliar role as emergency food providers for the low-income children they serve. Organizations unaccustomed to serving anything more than granola bars are finding themselves to be the last line of defense against children going hungry at night.
The number of D.C. students fed in federally qualified after-school programs has increased dramatically in the past several years, from about 1,550 a day in 2002 to 14,650 a day as of October, according to Alexandra Ashbrook, director of D.C. Hunger Solutions, a local advocacy group.
Ashbrook and several leaders of national anti-hunger groups said the number of children in need has increased again in the past several months, taking a toll on many nonprofit organizations, which are simultaneously experiencing a decline in contributions.
“Many groups are serving twice as many children because of increased need, which poses a huge challenge when budgets are tight,” said Carol Watson, director of grants for Share Our Strength, a Washington-based national organization for ending childhood hunger.
The strain on nonprofit budgets is expected to be acute this summer, when many after-school programs will offer activities all day and will be responsible for providing more food. The federal Summer Food Service program provides funding for programs to purchase two meals and a snack each day, but some nonprofit leaders don’t think that will be enough this year.
Few statistics are available about the state of childhood hunger during the recession. Food stamp use — considered a good indicator of the number of families at risk of going hungry — has hit record highs in recent months, with more than 28 million people receiving them nationwide. And because studies find that only two-thirds of those eligible for food stamps enroll in the program, the number of families short of food is likely much higher.
At Barry’s tennis program in Ward 8, as many as half of the students come in hungry despite having eaten free breakfast and lunch at school, because they had no dinner the night before. Barry receives 71 cents per child per day to buy snacks — generally a sandwich, a piece of fruit and milk or juice — through the federal Child and Adult Care Food Program, but she must supplement that with monthly Costco runs that total about $600, some of which comes out of her pocket.
“You want to make sure they eat but, on the other hand, want to make sure they get support with homework, which requires me to spend money on tutors. And then there’s the athletic component that’s a core part of who we are,” Barry said. “It’s like we have to choose between feeding them and educating them, but I can’t with a good conscience let kids leave here hungry.”
Sens. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.) and Richard G. Lugar (D-Ind.) introduced legislation this month that would expand a pilot program that pays for after-school organizations to provide a full evening meal. The Supper Program, which operates in 10 states and is scheduled to begin soon in Maryland, would increase federal funding to $2.57 a child. Both the snack and supper programs require organizations to provide healthy meals that include protein, fruits and vegetables and grains.
Share Our Strength estimates that as many as one in six children nationwide is at risk of hunger.
“The fact is that a lot of families can’t afford to pay for dinner, so it’s up to nonprofits and the government to provide the food they need,” said Crystal FitzSimons, who directs efforts to improve after-school programs for the Food Research and Action Center, a research and policy group that works on hunger issues. “Plus, many schools are serving lunch as early as 10:30, so by 3:00, kids need more than an apple and a glass of milk.”
Even without increased funding, some programs have beefed up the food they serve after school. At the Northeast Performing Arts Group, a dance program in Ward 7, director Rita Jackson keeps soup packets, bread and peanut butter stashed in her desk. She said she can pick out the kids who are hungry during dance classes because their energy levels are so low. Often, children who are not part of the program stop by just to eat, and she doesn’t have the heart to turn them away.
“I ask why they don’t have any energy, and they say they haven’t had enough to eat,” Jackson said. “Then I talk to their mothers and they tell me there’s no food in the house. It breaks my heart every day.”
Jackson, whose program does not receive federal funding for food, has cut other parts of her budget to buy more food and is dipping into her own pocket. The printers often go without ink or paper, and art supplies are increasingly limited. Jackson spends $600 to $1,000 each month to feed about 100 children.
The economic crisis has also affected programs that focus on food and cooking. At Brainfood, a cooking program in Northwest Washington, students are increasingly interested in the cost of ingredients, according to executive director Paul Dahm. The program’s “budget challenge,” which requires teams of students to prepare a meal for four on less than $14, has taken on new meaning for the growing number of teenagers whose families are struggling, Dahm said.
“Before the recession, I’m not sure they connected it to everyday life,” Dahm said. “Now it’s directly applicable to almost everyone.”
Small Bites
Talkin’ trash: The bulk of garbage – some 76 percent – created by Americans is industrial waste. Municipal solid waste (trash from our homes) makes up only 2.5 percent of what we dump.
Waste paper: A full third of municipal solid waste disposed of in the U.S. is paper.
Not wasting food: Just 12 percent of municipal solid waste is estimated to be food scraps.
Going fast: Municipal waste from paper and food scraps decomposes in six months or less.
Not going so fast: Other materials sent to the dump do not disappear so quickly. Filter tip cigarettes and plastic bags take 10-20 years to disappear; disposible diapers, 75 years.
Not going anywhere: It will take at least 200 years for an aluminum can to disintegrate; Styrofoam just does not go away, ever.
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