Some of the report highlights:

1.  School breakfast participation improves children’s dietary intake.

• Low-income children who eat school breakfast have better overall diet quality than those who eat breakfast elsewhere or skip breakfast.

2.  School breakfast decreases the risk of food insecurity.

3.   School breakfast may protect against childhood obesity.

•  School breakfast participation is associated with a lower body mass index (BMI, an indicator of excess body fat), lower probability of overweight, and lower probability of obesity.
•  Increasing participation in the federal nutrition programs – including school breakfast – is a childhood obesity prevention strategy recommended by two recent Institute of Medicine (IOM) committees and the White House Task Force on Childhood Obesity.

4.  School breakfast participation protects against other negative health outcomes.

• - School breakfast, including breakfast offered free to all students, has been linked with fewer visits to the school nurse, particularly in the morning.
• School breakfast participation, especially breakfast offered free to all students, positively impacts children’s mental health, including reductions in behavioral problems, anxiety, and depression.

5.  School breakfast helps improve children’s academic performance, whereas skipping breakfast and experiencing hunger impair development and learning.

• - Students who participate in school breakfast show improved attendance, behavior, and academic performance as well as decreased tardiness.
• -Participating in school breakfast is associated with improved math grades, attendance, and punctuality.

6.  Breakfast in the classroom programs‡ and programs offering breakfast free to all children in the cafeteria yield other positive results for health and learning.

• -Programs offering breakfast free to all students and breakfast in the classroom boost student breakfast participation.
•  Students attending schools that offer a breakfast free to all students are more likely to consume a nutritionally substantive breakfast and to consume significantly more calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, fruit, and dairy products at breakfast, when compared to students from schools with a traditional means-tested school breakfast in the cafeteria program.

FDA Questions and Answers about Apple Juice

Letter from FDA to Dr. Oz Show

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration disproved the show’s report, called it “irresponsible,” and says drinking all brands of apple juice is safe, a position confirmed by many other health experts.

Our E S Foods apple juice is produced under the strict guidelines of the Federal Food & Drug administration and is fully compliant with the standards set forth by that agency. Furthermore, our concentrates are tested before use and we retain Certificates of Analysis attesting to their safety and purity.

There is currently no evidence to suggest a public health risk from fruit juices, including apple juice. The FDA has been in communication with the producers of the show and has reviewed the show’s findings in great detail. FDA’s conclusion is that the show’s findings were based on the wrong tests and believes it was irresponsible and misleading for The Dr. Oz Show to suggest that apple juice contains unsafe amounts of arsenic based solely on inaccurate testing.

We are thrilled that the Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act has passed. We see this as a tremendous opportunity to provide more children in need with after school meals. Below are the 8 provisions of this landmark legislation, as described in the USDA’s news release on the Act.

1. Upgrading nutritional standards for school meals by increasing the federal reimbursement rate for school lunches by 6 cents for districts who comply with federal nutrition standards. This is the first real reimbursement rate increase in over 30 years.

2. Improving the nutritional quality of all food in schools by providingUSDA with the authority to set nutritional standards for all foods sold in schools, including in vending machines, the “a la carte” lunch lines, and school stores.

3. Increases the number of eligible children enrolled in the school meals programs by using Medicaid data to directly certify children who meet income requirements without requiring individual applications connecting approximately 115,000 new students to the school meals program.

4. Enhances universal meal access for eligible children in high poverty communities by eliminating paper applications and using census data to determine school wide income eligibility.

5. Provides more meals for at-risk children nationwide by allowing Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) providers in all 50 states and the District of Columbia to be reimbursed for providing a meal to at-risk children after school paving the way for an additional 21 million meals to children annually.

6. Empowering parents by requiringschools to make information more readily available to parents about the nutritional quality of school meals, as well as the results of any audits.

 7. Improving the quality of foods supplied to schools by buildingon and further advancing the work USDA has been doing to improve the nutritional quality of the commodities that schools get from USDA and use in their lunch and breakfast programs.

8. Improving WIC by making it easier for children to get recertified as eligible for the program, requiring greater use of EBT technology (debit cards), and expanding support for breastfeeding.

“Break for Breakfast:  E S Foods announces its redesigned Breakfast BREAKS, a grab ‘n’ go option that now features new eco-friendly pouch packaging.  The product is available in 12 varieties and comes in either a three-pack (cereal, 100% fruit juice and a snack) or a four-pack (cereal, 100% fruit juice, shelf-stable milk and a snack).  Featured cereals include several General Mills’ brand favorites,  such as Cheerios, Cinnamon Toast Crunch, and Kix. Shelf-stable snacks include Giant Goldfish Grahams and Mini Animal Crackers. Also available are Thaw & Serve Breakfast BREAKS. Product packaging features 24 fun, rotating headline messages for kids and tweens. For more information visit www.esfoods.com or call (516) 682-5494.”

USA TODAY, by Martha T. Moore

Breakfast in Class: Fight against  kids’ hunger starts at school.

NPR story on childhood hunger

March 29, 2010

Dear Ms. Rivas,

We here at E S Foods (formerly East Side Entrees) applaud your efforts and outreach to the School Nutrition Community. As a manufacturer of products that are served in schools throughout the country, we are cognizant of the nutrition challenges affecting our nation’s children.

As foodservice professionals you face a daunting task – providing children nutritious, well balanced meals that meet USDA requirements and fall within a limited budget. As a partner, we respect your responsibilities and applaud your professionalism.

We all know that school foodservice is often the scapegoat for larger social issues. In many instances school foodservice is negatively stereotyped. Everyday we meet with foodservice professionals and we know your concern for fat, sugar, sodium content and above all nutritionally balanced kid friendly affordable meals

Our primary focus in conjunction with the “got breakfast ?” foundation is helping schools to reach the 22 million children eligible for free or reduced priced meals, most of whom live in food insecure households. For many of these kids the only real meal they receive each day is at school.

The USDA has many programs that can effectively and efficiently reach these children with nutritious, well balanced meals. These include breakfast (classroom and alternate site), after school meals, supper programs, summer feeding. E S Foods is committed to “nourishing our future” by nourishing our children. We have and will continue to invest in programs that assist schools in reaching and feeding more children.

We are proud to partner our efforts with the members of SNA and the USDA. We believe that in this great country every effort must be made to properly and efficiently feed every eligible child and particularly those in most need.

Very Truly Yours,

Gary A. Davis

USDA leadership will host the school nutrition events in regions throughout the country where participants will include food service workers, school officials, community and advocacy members, federal, state and local officials, parents and students.

Administration priorities include eliminating barriers that keep children from participating in school nutrition programs, improving the quality of school meals and the health of the school environment, and enhancing program performance.  Let your voice be heard by the Administration and the public.

Dates and locations for the school nutrition events include:

Week of April 5th, 2010
Little Rock, Ark.
Food, Nutrition and Consumer Services Deputy Under Secretary Janey Thornton

April 13, 2010
South Carolina
Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) Administrator Julie Paradis

Tuesday, April 28, 2010
Las Vegas, Nev.
Deputy Administrator for Special Nutrition Programs (SNP) Audrey Rowe

Wednesday, April 28 or 29, 2010
Orlando, Fla.
Food, Nutrition and Consumer Services Deputy Under Secretary Janey Thornton

Week of May 10, 2010
Detroit, Mich.
Deputy Administrator for Special Nutrition Programs (SNP) Audrey Rowe

Week May 17th, 2010
New Haven, Conn.
Deputy Administrator for Special Nutrition Programs (SNP) Audrey Rowe

Date: May 17, 2010
Location: Montana
Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) Administrator Julie Paradis

Week of May 24, 2010
Indianapolis, Ind.
Deputy Administrator for Special Nutrition Programs (SNP)  Audrey Rowe

May 20 or 21, 2010
Davis, Calif.
Food, Nutrition and Consumer Services Deputy Under Secretary Janey Thornton

Additional details will be made available closer to the event date.  More information can be found at http://www.usda.gov/.