ANIMAL PRODUCTS: OBSTACLE TO HEALTH

Heh. "Obstacles in Way of Healthy School Lunch" is the headline on this who-knows-what-can-be-done story. Wonder what those "obstacles" might be? Oh yeah - "Two-thirds of the $939.5 million the USDA spent on lunch commodities in fiscal 2003 went toward meat and dairy products. A little more than one-quarter of the total went toward fruits and vegetables, mostly canned and frozen." The piece does give a shout-out to visionary educator Antonia Demas, director of the Food Studies Institute, mentioning her conviction that "the classroom must be part of any solution. She wants nutrition education mandated the same way New York schools are required to teach HIV prevention."