There’s a new push in Toronto to get the provincial
government involved in subsidizing school breakfast programs.
While teachers say students learn better if they get a
nutritious breakfast and snacks at school, if the government gets involved it
will trigger a lot of lobbying by farmers and food processors.
A look at the United States school lunch program provides a glimpse
of what we could expect.
There farm organizations representing dairy farmers, pork
producers, apple growers, etc., have lobbied the government to favour their commodities.
There have also been abuses by unscrupulous meat packers who
have been found marketing less-than-wholesome products under the subsidies.
And now the United States Department of Agriculture, which
runs the subsidy program, has issued new guidelines. Trans fats are out, sodium
content must be reduced, more whole grains, fruits and vegetables must be
served.
The rules get down to the nitty-gritty. For example, schools
must offer nine to 12 whole grain options for high school students. Meals must
fall within a specified calorie range – for example, 750 to 850 calories for
high schools.
Imagine how much money and effort Ontario’s
supply-management marketing boards for dairy and poultry products would put
into lobbying for their products to be on the school menus.
Less wealthy commodity organizations, such as goat milk farmers, blueberry growers and honey producers would be hard-pressed to raise
a whisper to the roar from these aggressive, well-heeled marketing boards.
Why have the government responsible for supplying meals?
Why
not hold parents responsible? And if they can’t afford it, then make sure they
get the means to feed their children. Given current housing costs, welfare levels are woefully inadequate. They say people in Toronto have less than $5.50 a day left for everything else.
What we have today in our schools is a patchwork of breakfast and
lunch programs funded and organized by local school boards, individual schools
and charitable organizations.
At least that approach has avoided the politics that have
come to play in the U.S. programs. Having the province run school breakfast and lunch programs is an invitation for trouble.
