Debating Healthy Hunger - Free Kids Act Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Debating Healthy Hunger - Free Kids Act - Essay Example Taxpayers finance roughly half of the total medical costs annually through Medicaid and Medicare (Hinman, 2011, 16). In view of this growing problem of childhood obesity, the Obama administration recently signed the Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010 to intensify its fight against childhood obesity. However, the ratification of the 2010 Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act generated varied responses all over the United States. In the view of some, the additional 6-cents for each meal given are valued, but others are dissatisfied with the extra 6-cents which is argued to be insufficient. This paper presents a comprehensive a discussion of the arguments for and against the Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010. Ultimately, the author discusses its position in the debate. Overview The Obama administration recently released a new cluster of federal policies that would regulate the quantity of calories permitted state-sponsored school meals, prohibiting majority of trans fats at the same time as boosting the quantities of vegetables, fruits, and whole grains. The projects, proposed by the Agriculture Department, embody the initial large-scale overhauling of school lunch rules in the 21st century (The Washington Times, 2011a, A03). The guidelines would be valid to all partly and fully funded meals and may have an impact on a vast number of children. Supporters claim revamping the price in the country’s school lunches is fundamental in mitigating childhood obesity since large numbers of children take at least half of their everyday calories at school (Hinman, 2011, 16). However, a number of conservative detractors, headed by Sarah Palin, have denounced federal attempts to oblige nutritional intake and control school vending machines and bake sales as unwarranted government intrusion. A number of local school administrators and personnel have questioned the cost of putting into effect the new guidelines, with a large number of the suggested menu selections more costly to acquire and prepare. The U.S. is confronting an obesity outbreak, and the predicament of poor diets puts the future of the children and the nation at risk, according to Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, emphasizing that the country confronts an enormous cost from poor diets in chronic health crises (The Washington Times, 2011a, A03). The rules are a reaction to the 2010 Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act. The $4.5 billion policy enlarges the population of students entitled to school lunch initiatives and raises the federal financial backing by 6 cents a meal (The Washington Times, 2011a, A03). Aside from mandating calorie restrictions, the recommended policies demand cutting down sodium by at least half over a decade (Hinman, 2011, 17), increasing quantities of whole grains and forbidding bad fats. The Argument for the Healthy Hunger-Free Free Kids Act Many individuals and organizations within the food industry supported the implementation of the Act with eagerness like the Internatio nal Dairy Foods Association, the United Fresh Produce Association, American Bakers’ Association, and Grocery Manufacturers Association (Julian, 2010). As argued by Center for Science in the Public Interest’s director of nutrition policy, Margo Wootan, criticizing the legislation by the cost only is very crude since there are other resource-saving