Diet & Health
From ANIMAL PEOPLE, October 1992:
* The USDA school lunch subsidy pro-
gram is functioning as a dump for choles-
terol-laden meat and dairy products, the con-
sumer group Public Voice for Food and
Health Policy charged September 16.
Approximately 20% of each of the 4.1 billion
school lunches served in 1991 consisted of
free food supplied by the USDA—but cheese
and butter made up a third of the $10.2 billion
total, almost all of the potatoes had fat added,
and only 3.4% of the fruit and vegetables
were fresh. The Public Voice report was
endorsed by American School Food Service
Association spokesman Kevin Dando, who
agreed, “There’s entirely too much butter
available, and schools would like to have
more fresh fruits and vegetables.” From 1979
through 1991, the USDA spent $7.2 billion to
supply schools with meat and dairy products,
but spent just $2 billion on fruits, vegetables,
and grains.