USDA - Ready to Move for a Healthier Generation
By Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack
A call to action, a challenge for a generation, no matter what we call it, First Lady Michelle Obama's announcement of the Let's Move! initiative is an ambitious goal of solving the challenge of childhood obesity. It is a goal that we take seriously here at USDA and we are prepared to dedicate our time, energy, and resources to achieving this goal.
We know the statistics: one in three children are overweight or obese, putting them at risk for diabetes and others chronic obesity-related health problems like heart disease, high blood pressure, cancer, and asthma. Access to nutritious food and proper education on healthy lifestyles are in need of improvement.
Here is a snapshot of what we are going to be working on at USDA to help the First Lady - but it is only a fraction of the full effort our Department will be implementing to reach the goals set forth.
Our Food and Nutrition programs will be working to serve healthier food in our schools. To do this, we will be working with Congress to reauthorize the Child Nutrition Act and hopefully invest an additional $10 billion over ten years to improve the quality of the National School Lunch and Breakfast program, increase the number of kids participating, and ensure schools have the resources they need to make program changes. This means that children across the nation will have better access to fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and low-fat dairy products. These nutritious foods will be served in all school cafeterias and an additional one million students will be served through school lunch programs in the next five years.
We are also working with the First Lady to promote and double the number of schools participating in the Healthier US School Challenge, which establishes rigorous standards for schools’ food quality, participation in meal programs, physical activity, and nutrition education – the key components that make for healthy and active kids.
And USDA is embracing the latest technology and external stakeholders to help reach our goals. Our Food, Nutrition, and Consumer Services is preparing to launch the Innovations for Healthy Kids Challenge, a call to American entrepreneurs, software developers, and students to use a recently released USDA nutrition data set to create innovative, fun, and engaging web-based learning applications that motivate kids, especially “tweens” (aged 9-12) and their parents, to eat more healthfully and be more physically active.
Clearly, we have our work cut out for us, but it is a challenge we are ready to take on. Now is the time to make America’s move to raise a healthier generation of kids.
