The United Fresh Produce Association signaled today that its Washington conference on September 8 to 10 will focus on the continuing battle over fall school meals, just as Congress returns for a short session that must include some type of bill to fund the government for the next fiscal year that begins October 1.

“Be a part of an important conversation on kids’ access to fruits and vegetables,” United Fresh said early today in a pitch o members and journalists to attend its meeting.

United Fresh said that its speakers would include:

• James A. “Jamie” Barnett Jr. , the retired Navy rear admiral, now of Mission: Readiness, the group of retired military officers who have defended the healthier school meals rules promulgated by the Obama administration under the 2010 Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act;
• Eduardo Sanchez, the Texas physician who is deputy chief medical officer for the American Heart Association and serves on the Institute of Medicine’s Roundtable on Obesity Solutions;
• Otha Thornton, a retired Army lieutenant colonel who is president of the National Parent-Teacher Association.

Meanwhile, the School Nutrition Association on Monday released the results of a survey of school food service directors that the group said shows the school meals program operators “are struggling with higher costs, shrinking revenue, and challenges with product availability and student acceptance under new nutrition standards for school meals.”

The online survey, which was conducted in July, is based on responses from directors in 240 districts across 46 states, a small percentage of the country’s 13,588 school districts listed in the Digest of Education Statistics.

The survey reported that:

• 46 percent reported that their overall program revenue decreased in school year 2013-14, with only 21.5 percent reporting an increase in revenue.
• 87 percent of districts reported an increase in food costs.
• 85 percent predict increased food costs for school year 2014-15 and a large majority anticipates increased labor and supply costs.
• 43 percent expect declines in overall program revenue.
• 59 percent anticipate a decrease in a la carte revenue under the new Smart Snacks in School rule, with 29 percent anticipating a “strong decrease.”

The survey showed that districts that participate in the community eligibility provision (CEP) are less likely to anticipate a decline in revenues, but 72 percent of programs are not eligible or not planning to participate in community eligibility.

The CEP allows high-poverty schools to offer free meals to all students regardless of family income, and without an application.

Over half of non-CEP districts anticipate a decline in revenue, but only 18.5 percent of CEP districts expect shrinking revenue, the survey showed.

SNA noted that the 2015 House Agriculture Appropriations Bill proposes a temporary one-year waiver of the new standards for school meal programs operating at a net loss for six months or more. It said that 22.5 percent of respondents reported their programs are eligible for the proposed one-year waiver, another 12 percent were unsure if their programs would be eligible and, 22.7 percent of respondents indicated they would be interested in applying for the waiver.

The survey also said that 81 percent of respondents reported an increase in the amount of food being thrown away by students at lunch, with vegetables the item most thrown away. They also said that whole-grain-rich mandates would increase the cost of preparing school meals and that the breakfast mandate will increase the cost of preparing school breakfast by 14 cents per breakfast.

They also responded that while food companies have introduced new products to meet the healthier school meal guidelines, they are sometimes difficult to procure.

SNA noted it has asked USDA and Congress to:

• Maintain the 2012 requirement that 50 percent of grains served be whole-grain rich, instead of the new mandates for 100 percent whole-grain rich.
• Maintain Target 1 sodium levels, and suspend further reductions until scientific research supports them.
• To avoid food waste, offer, but do not require students to take a fruit or vegetable.
• Allow “healthy” items permitted on the meal line to be sold a la carte as well.

Senate Appropriations Committee Chairwoman Barbara Mikulski, D-Md. said she hopes against all odds to assemble the appropriations bills into an omnibus package, Roll Call reported.

The Senate version of the fiscal year 2015 Agriculture appropriations bill contains a provision to make a few changes to the school meals program, but not the waiver provision in the House version.

▪ School Nutrition Association — School Nutrition Trends Survey 2014
▪ Roll Call — Mikulski Plots One More Push at Omnibus