America’s New Lunch Lady is “Not Much of a Reformer”
by: Jill Richardson
Tue Apr 14, 2009 at 17:18:59 PM PDT

This week brought two new appointments at the USDA – Dr. Janey Thornton as Deputy Under Secretary for Food, Nutrition and Consumer Services and Bud Philbrook as Deputy Under Secretary for Farm and Foreign Agricultural Services (he’ll be working under Under Secretary Jim Miller). According to Grist, Thornton, who will oversee the school lunch program, is “not much of a reformer.”
According to the USDA’s press release, here’s a description of Thornton’s job:

In this position, Dr. Thornton will provide policy direction for the Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) and the Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion (CNPP). FNS administers the nation’s food assistance programs. The CNPP develops and promotes dietary guidance that links scientific research to the nutrition needs of consumers.

The FNCS mission area has an annual budget that represents about two-thirds of USDA’s total budget of more than $120 billion.

The work of FNS is built on the belief that no one should go hungry in America. The agency helps one in five people by providing children and those most in need access to food, a healthful diet, and nutrition education. The CNPP’s programs, including those to reduce obesity, are aimed at improving the health of all Americans.

In other words – her job is more than school lunch and it encompasses a host of USDA nutrition programs. That said, her background IS school lunch so no doubt she’ll be heavily involved in that area.

Jill Richardson :: America’s New Lunch Lady is “Not Much of a Reformer”
Here is Thornton’s background, also from the press release:

Thornton was School Nutrition Director for Hardin County Schools in Elizabethtown, Ky., for over 25 years. During this time the district doubled in size to more than 15,000 students…
Thornton was President of the 55,000-member School Nutrition Association (SNA) during the 2006-2007 school year. She also served as President of the School Nutrition Foundation and was an active member of the Global Child Nutrition Foundation. She has held leadership roles in the Kentucky School Nutrition Association and was Chairwoman of the SNA Public Policy and Legislative Committee.

So how did Grist conclude that she was all about business as usual? They checked her school district’s menus.

Although we were glad to see that a Nutrition Services Director was picked for the post, our research about her school district makes us question whether she has the experience to confront the children’s health crisis.
Thornton’s small school district (15,000 students) in Kentucky has menus that are similar to ones that school advocates like us are trying to replace. The ubiquitous chicken nuggets, chicken patties, and popcorn chicken (all products of the USDA commodity food program) are weekly menu offerings. Pictures of children drinking chocolate milk adorn the district’s website, and cookies are on the menus on a daily basis. And to put the proverbial icing on the cake, fresh baked cinnamon rolls are served at breakfast.

Yikes. The high school menu is here: Corndogs, Chicken Fried Steak, Salisbury Steak, Nachos, Chicken Nuggets, Pizza, Baked Ziti… even with healthy fruit and vegetable sides, these are not healthy meals we should be giving our kids. And that’s assuming that the sides are healthy and that the kids actually eat them.

Elementary and Middle school menus are here. Breakfasts include cinnamon rolls, hot pockets, french toast sticks, and sausage biscuits. At least they include fruit every day. Lunch is hot dogs or popcorn chicken, etc, plus some decent looking sides (vegetables and fruit!). And a cookie. Always a cookie.

About the School Nutrition Association? Last year’s conference had sessions like “a science-based discussion about high fructose corn syrup.” And I’m not thrilled about its list of sponsors for its 2009 conference:
* Barilla Pasta
* General Mills Bakeries & Foodservice
* Land O’Lakes
* SFSPac Food Service Sanitation Systems
* J.T.M. Food Group
* ConAgra Foodservice
* Horizon Software International
* Mrs.T’s Pierogies
* Solae
* Schwan’s Food Service
* Fruit 66
* Kellogg’s Food Away From Home
* Pierre Foods
* Vulcan and Wolf
* Simplot

You can also see what the School Nutrition Association recently said in their testimony before the Senate Ag Committee here. SNA had very simple requests – an additional $.35 per kid per lunch and one rule for all foods sold in schools instead of what we have now (one set of rules for the federally reimbursable school lunch, one for other foods sold in the cafeteria at lunch time, and no rules on any other food). These aren’t bad requests but they are addressing the BARE minimum of what needs to happen to fix our school lunches or maybe not even that. Perhaps it’s a political calculation on their part and they don’t think they can get anything more, but somehow I doubt that. More likely they don’t want to ruffle the feathers of any of their funders – the large corporations named above. I think that it’s unacceptable that the group that should be the biggest advocates for children’s nutrition are doing so little to actually improve children’s nutrition.