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Senate OKs nutrition standards for schools
Saturday, May 26, 2007 | No comments posted.
SALEM (AP) - Oregon schools will have strict nutrition standards for food and drinks sold in vending machines, student stores and cafeterias, under a bill that sailed through the state Senate on Friday, 22-6.
The bill would ban food with fat and sugar content above an acceptable threshold.
Food items will also have to meet portion size and calorie standards.
The acceptable amounts increase from elementary to middle school, and again in high school.
The bill goes to Gov. Ted Kulongoski for signing.
Nutrition advocates said the measure is aimed at the growth in child obesity and could help ward off diabetes and other diseases.
“This makes healthy choices the easy choice for children in the schools,” said Sen. Laurie Monnes Anderson, D-Gresham, a nurse and former school board member.
Some districts, including Portland and Salem, have such guidelines in place.
Opponents said the bill chipped away at local control.
“We are micromanaging something that we should leave in the jurisdiction of the school district,” said Sen. Jeff Kruse, R-Roseberg. “This is an incredibly complicated thing we have foisted on them.”
The standards would not apply to after-school and sporting events attended by parents and the public.
The bill would ban food with fat and sugar content above an acceptable threshold.
Food items will also have to meet portion size and calorie standards.
The acceptable amounts increase from elementary to middle school, and again in high school.
The bill goes to Gov. Ted Kulongoski for signing.
Nutrition advocates said the measure is aimed at the growth in child obesity and could help ward off diabetes and other diseases.
“This makes healthy choices the easy choice for children in the schools,” said Sen. Laurie Monnes Anderson, D-Gresham, a nurse and former school board member.
Some districts, including Portland and Salem, have such guidelines in place.
Opponents said the bill chipped away at local control.
“We are micromanaging something that we should leave in the jurisdiction of the school district,” said Sen. Jeff Kruse, R-Roseberg. “This is an incredibly complicated thing we have foisted on them.”
The standards would not apply to after-school and sporting events attended by parents and the public.
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