In 1906 the liberals began their welfare reforms with the provision of free school meals act which was to be paid by property tax. This act was targeted at children who, after education becoming compulsory, where revealed to be suffering from many ailments. At this time there was also worry that the British people where suffering from a physical decline. The free meals, it was hoped, would improve the health of these children and remove health problems such as rickets. A good meal every day was a significant improvement to a malnourished child but the issue of how effective the scheme was as a whole is debatable. Though the meals where available the scheme was put in the control of local authorities many of whom were slow to act and, to begin with, only 150,000 children where receiving a free school meal. This number did rise. However, information available from 1912 shows that over half of the local authorities in England and Wales had still not set up a free meals service. Although the free school meals where an effective means of improving children’s health as it was…
In David Zinczenko’s Don’t Blame the Eater, he criticizes the fast food industry's failure to provide nutrition information and the resulting consequences in the American health and legal systems. He argues that we should not blame kids for eating unhealthily but instead look to the fast food industry as the problem. Kids are suing McDonalds because they are overweight and the author has had a similar experience growing up. The problems with kids eating too much has become a national crisis and causing an increase in childhood diabetes. One reason this problem is so serious is that there isn’t any alternative, it’s cheap, and healthy food…
Old McDonald had a farm. We all know that childhood song our parents used to sing to us growing up. Unfortunately, we (the American people) were on that farm acting as their livestock. They made millions off of our need for their fast convenient food. But who’s really to Blame? David Zinczenko tries to answer this question in his article called “Don’t Blame the Eater”, by comparing the rise in childhood heath issues with the popularity and convenience of the fast food industry.…
Due to the fact that price exceeds quantity, students are refusing to eat. The National School Lunch Program claims to “provide nutritionally balanced, low-cost or free lunches to more than 31 million children each school day,” (National School Lunch Program 1) but do they mean it? Often times the factor of nutrition is questionable in the food provided in school lunches. An example being one day a student who does not possess the benefit of the National School Lunch Program’s free lunch decides to eat the so-called “nutritionally balanced food” (National School Lunch…
Childhood obesity has swept America up from under its feet. However, the fall of the blame of this epidemic still remains unclear. The role of parents in children’s healthy eating habits comes down to what food they are buying to put on the table, how much time they are willing to put into preparing healthy meals, and how well they educate their children on nutritious value. Alongside the parents, the role of the government in children’s healthy eating habits is in marketing, advertisement, federal policies in pricing, and the regulation of food served in a child’s school cafeteria. I had never really focused on or considered this issue until after reading Salt, Sugar, Fat by Michael Moss. Who is to be held responsible for this obesity epidemic is something that has long since remained controversial, and is a topic I desire to write my final research paper on.…
Recently there has been revisions to the National School Lunch Program (NSLP) and schools were required to overhaul their entire menus to provide the students with healthy and nutritious foods including fruits and vegetables. The new school lunch rules are part of the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010 which has been implemented this fall. (Post Standard) The Hunger Act allows the USDA the opportunity to make reforms to the school lunch and breakfast programs. With these revisions come strict guidelines from the federal government that each school district must follow in order to receive funding and reimbursement (National School Lunch Program, 2012, August p. 1). In this essay i will be comparing the positive and negative effects of these recent revisions to the NSLP. I will then discuss whether or not these changes are beneficial to the children receiving the meal and whether NSLP is leaving children hungry or helping children make healthy food choices.…
government wrongly spends billions of tax-payer dollars, just so they can assist food companies to gain more profits and subsidize foods. For example, the federal government annually spends approximately $38 billion in meat and dairy product subsidization. Although, national dietary guidelines encourage Americans to eat more fruits and vegetables, only about $17 million out of the $38 billion are spent towards produce. Additionally, two-thirds of American farmers received no funds from the last 15 years’ worth of subsidies, equivalent to $100 billion. Instead, those funds went towards corporation-owned-factory farms, which, hurt local economies and made meat and dairy production cheaper. Besides the subsidization costs, the government also spent an additional $550 million in marketing expenses, in order to boost sales for meat and dairy products. In fact, each dollar (of the $550 million) increases meat and dairy sales by $8, annually, which would be an additional $4.6 billion invested in the meat and dairy industry (“10 Things We Wish Everyone Knew About the Meat and Dairy Industries”). By subsidizing the meat and dairy industries, the government has unduly encouraged Americans to predominantly consume those products, which may contribute to future health complications. When meat and dairy are the primary components in a person’s diet, people miss out on the benefits other foods can offer; particularly, fruits and vegetables, which offer a variety of benefits, including the following: lots of vitamins and minerals; may reduce the chance of being diagnosed with many diseases; and fiber-rich produce that help with digestion; that is to say, all essential to a healthy…
The National School Lunch Program, intended to prevent the return of Depression-era child malnourishment, allowed the government to buy surplus food from farmers and set minimum nutritional values for each meal.…
The recent medical studies point a deep concern about the increasing risk for developing child obesity, osteoporosis, dental caries, and heart diseases. Area of problems encompasses high intakes of saturated fat, total fat, soft drinks, and low intakes of fiber, fruits, and vegetables. As a result, First Lady Michelle Obama has launched a new menu lunch mandating a maximum calories of 650 for elementary; 700, middle school; and 850, high school. However, the current California lunch policy reflecting the recommendation of the first lady turns out to be a flop in altering student’s perspective nutrition and health. In fact, the new lunch program is inferior to its predecessor.…
The issues that are plaguing food and food legislation now mostly are involved with the debate on trans fatty acids and the sugar lobby. (Rogers, 2003) Another issue that is at the forefront of government because of food and involving food is that of healthcare. Food legislation is what is supposed to assist with the problem of healthcare because food is a tributary of health issues. The issue of childhood obesity is the primary focus of much food legislation and healthcare. The childhood obesity rate as of 2012 was 18% (CDC, 2012) and food legislation is supposed to fix this issue. The target of most fighting for food legislation is advertising unhealthy food to children through television.…
Questions throughout the years have been raised and questions whether or not The first milestone and recognition for the National School Lunch Program was in 1853. Children’s aid opened its first industrial school for poor children and initiated the first free school lunch program in the United states. Serving food, “became an inducement to children from the slums to attend school” (Heimstra, 2002). This then became public attention as the realization of how many children actually suffer from hunger.…
Schlosser, Eric. "Fast Food Nation: The True Cost of America’s Diet." McSpolight. N.p., 3 Sept. 1998. Web. 09 Aug. 2014. <http://www.mcspotlight.org/media/press/rollingstone1…
Childhood obesity is a form of child abuse and act of neglect that directly correlates to poor parenting and lack of attention to young children’s diets. Furthermore, fast food advertising agencies should be just as guilty of child abuse as some parents, due to the fact they specifically market cheap, harmful, and unhealthy foods to today’s youth. Additionally, the government is partially to blame for kindergarten through 12th grade aged kids becoming morbidly obese because of the bill that Obama passed called, The Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010. The three groups of adults previously listed above have direct affects on children’s dietary habits and all play an active role in morbidly obese youth. Poor parenting, fast food companies, and the government are all to blame for the rising obesity rates in the United States; however, should these three groups of people with power be facing charges of child abuse or neglect? Should children who are forced to eat unhealthy food for lunch in public schools have to suffer lifelong health issues because of poor decisions made by adults, over which they had no control?…
The state of school lunches has been a point of debate for many since Michelle Obama’s Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act signed into law December of 2010, giving full authority to the USDA in setting the nutritional standards for all foods regularly sold in school lunch lines, stores, and vending machines. The law was set to provide additional funding to meet the updated standards, however, the cost was severely underestimated. Using data provided by Medicaid, eligibility for the free or reduced school lunch programs has seen a definite increase, although participation has not (Lee, 2010). In a press release, U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius was quoted saying “The Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act is a significant step forward in our effort to help America's children thrive and grow to be healthy adults... By increasing the number of students eligible to enroll in school meal programs and improving the quality of food served, this legislation simultaneously tackles both hunger and the obesity levels currently affecting too many communities across this nation.” I would like to draw attention to her careful wording of “...step forward in our effort...” A subject as incredibly important as the nutrition of…
Nutrition has become a popular debate within the last twenty years. Policy analyst Radley Balko explores how government intervention affects our diet. In Balko’s article “What You Eat Is Your Business”, Balko discusses why he dislikes the policies being passed that monitor the public's intake of unhealthy food. Balko chooses to pull attention away from the outcome these policies will have on health, and instead focus on the financial ramifications that follow major policy changes.…