Add your voice in support of a healthy school day for our littlest learners!

Join us in supporting The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) as it updates the standards for meals and snacks in child care centers, day care homes, after-school and summer feeding programs.

These programs feed more than 3 million children every day, including mine and probably some kids you know, too. The proposed standards call for greater variety of fruits and vegetables, more whole grains, fewer fried foods, and more. We would also like them to use this opportunity to eliminate sugar sweetened beverages from daycare settings. The updates are intended to better meet children’s nutritional needs without increasing costs for care providers.

Sounds great, right? Add your voice today! We're sending signatures from supporters like you to:

Tina Namian
Branch Chief, Policy and Program Development Division
Child Nutrition Programs
Food and Nutrition Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture

Dear Ms. Namian,

I applaud USDA for raising the bar on nutrition standards for the Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP), which serves meals and snacks to over 3 million children in settings such as child care centers, day care homes, and after-school programs. I am pleased that USDA is dedicated to making a good program even better with updated standards—changes that I believe are well worth the effort to promote the future health of our nation’s children.

It’s important that USDA move forward with a final regulation, because meals based on strong nutritional standards, rooted in science,[1] can establish healthy dietary habits early in a child’s development and help to mitigate obesity and other risk factors for cardiovascular disease. In particular, I support the administration’s proposal to:

Ensure that children are served a greater variety of fruits and vegetables, with reasonable limits on juice.
Encourage inclusion of more whole-grain-rich foods in meals and snacks.
Reduce the availability of fried foods, which are higher in saturated and trans fats.

In addition, I recommend USDA strengthen the proposal by:

Ensuring no sugar-sweetened beverages are served in child care facilities.
Prohibiting flavored milk served to children up to age 5.
Including as a best practice the elimination of deep-fried or flash-fried frozen foods.
Expanding resources for training and technical assistance to child care providers, who may need help in making the transition to healthier meal and snack service.

I thank USDA for its effort on this important issue.

[1]The new CACFP proposed standards meet the U.S. Dietary Guidelines for Americans, which promote a healthful diet that helps to achieve and maintain a healthy weight, promote health, and prevent disease. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and USDA have jointly published the Dietary Guidelines every five years since 1980.

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Subject: Join me in supporting healthy meals and snacks for our littlest learners!

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Dear Friend,

I just took action to support updating the standards for meals and snacks in child care centers, day care homes, after-school and summer feeding programs. Can you join me? Here's the link to take action: http://action.momsrising.org/sign/CACFP/?referring_akid=6553.479828.81SAJi&source=taf

These programs feed more than 3 million children every day. The proposed standards call for greater variety of fruits and vegetables, more whole grains, fewer fried foods, and more. We would also like them to use this opportunity to eliminate sugar sweetened beverages from daycare settings. The updates are intended to better meet children’s nutritional needs without increasing costs for care providers. Sounds great, right?

Please add your voice: http://action.momsrising.org/sign/CACFP/?referring_akid=6553.479828.81SAJi&source=taf.

Thanks! Together we're a powerful voice for healthy kids and communities!

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