Aim is to ax junk-food ads in schools

Federal proposals seek to get pitches on healthful track

To help mark the fourth anniversary of her “Let’s Move” program, first lady Michelle Obama joins a Zumba session Tuesday at a Miami parks and recreation center.
To help mark the fourth anniversary of her “Let’s Move” program, first lady Michelle Obama joins a Zumba session Tuesday at a Miami parks and recreation center.

WASHINGTON - The Obama administration is moving to phase out junk food advertising on football scoreboards and elsewhere on school grounds - part of a broad effort to combat childhood obesity and create what first lady Michelle Obama calls “a new norm” for today’s schoolchildren and future generations.

“This new approach to eating and activity is not just a fad,” the first lady said Tuesday as she described the proposed rules. The announcement at the White House was part of a week of events marking the fourth anniversary of her “Let’s Move” program.

Promotion of sugary drinks and junk foods throughout campuses would be phased out under the Agriculture Department rules, which are intended to ensure that marketing is in line with health standards that already apply to food served at public schools.

That means a scoreboard at a high school sporting event eventually wouldn’t be allowed to advertise Coca-Cola, for example, though it could advertise Diet Coke or Dasani water, also owned by Coca-Cola Co. Same with the front of a vending machine. Cups, posters and menu boards that promote foods that don’t meet federal standards also would be phased out.

Ninety-three percent of such marketing in schools pertains to beverages. And many soda companies already have started to transition their sales and advertising in schools from sugary sodas and sports drinks to other products they produce. Companies are spending $149 million a year on marketing to kids in schools, according to the Agriculture Department.

The proposed rules come on the heels of federal regulations that require food in school lunch lines to be more healthful than in the past.

Separate rules, which are to go into effect in September, will cover other food offered at schools as well, including in vending machines and “a la carte” lines in the lunch room.

Calorie, fat, sugar and sodium limits will have to be met on almost every food and beverage sold during the school day, as mandated by a 2010 law.

Some healthful-food rules have come under fire from conservatives who say the government shouldn’t dictate what kids eat - and from some students who don’t like the new alternatives.

The first lady said kids eventually will get used to the changes. “That’s our job as parents, to hold steady through the whining,” she said.

Aware of the potential backlash to the proposed rules, the Agriculture Department is allowing schools to make some of their own decisions about what constitutes marketing and is asking for comments on some options. For example, the proposal asks for comments on initiatives like Pizza Hut’s “Book It” program, which coordinates with schools to reward kids with pizza for reading.

Rules for other school fundraisers, like bake sales and marketing for those events, would be left up to schools or states.

Off-campus fundraisers, like an event at a local fast food outlet that benefits a school, still would be permitted.

But posters advertising the fast food may not be allowed in school hallways. An email to parents - with or without the advertising - would have to suffice. The idea is to market to the parents, not the kids.

The rules also make allowances for major infrastructure costs - that scoreboard advertising Coca-Cola, for example, wouldn’t have to be immediately torn down. But the school would have to get one with a different message or product the next time it is replaced.

‘LOGICAL NEXT STEP’

American Beverage Association President and Chief Executive Officer Susan Neely said in a statement that aligning signage with the more healthful drinks that will be offered in schools is the “logical next step.”

Schools that don’t want to comply could leave the National School Lunch Program, which allows schools to collect government reimbursements for free and low-cost lunches for needy students in exchange for following certain standards.

The public will have 60 days to comment on the proposed rules, which also would allow more children access to free lunches and ensure that schools have wellness policies in place.

The 2010 child nutrition law expanded food programs for hungry students. The rules proposed Tuesday would increase that even further by allowing the highest-poverty schools to serve lunch and breakfast to all students for free, with the cost shared between the federal government and the schools.

According to the Agriculture Department and the White House, that initiative would allow 9 million children in 22,000 schools to receive free lunches.

New federal data published Tuesday showed a 43 percent drop in the obesity rate among children ages 2 to 5 during the past decade.

The report in the Journal of the American Medical Association, followed data released last year by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that found that the obesity rate among low-income preschoolers participating in federal nutrition programs declined broadly from 2008 to 2011 after rising for decades.

Researchers said they don’t know the precise reasons behind the drop, but they noted that many childcare centers have started to improve nutrition and physical-activity standards.

Obama praised the progress in lowering obesity rates and said participation in her “Let’s Move” program was encouraging healthier habits. Information for this article was contributed by Darlene Superville and Mary Clare Jalonick of The Associated Press and by Lena H. Sun of The Washington Post.

Front Section, Pages 3 on 02/26/2014

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