To the editor:
The proposed new guidelines for school meals are needed to ensure our children are provided healthy meals at school. Those meals can and should include potatoes.
Preparation is key to ensuring any food offered to our children is nutritious and kid-friendly. We agree that children eat too many processed foods such as french fries, but it doesn’t make sense to rigidly restrict the number of servings of particular vegetables in order to reduce some forms of food. As Senator Collins noted in a recent op/ed column, potatoes can be prepared in many healthful ways that students enjoy.
The proposed limit on starchy vegetables is well intended, but this overly simplified approach will cause unnecessary problems for schools. Schools and communities benefit when locally grown produce is served. In Maine, potatoes are a readily available part of a healthy diet, as well as an important part of the rural economy.
We hope that this proposed restriction is eliminated and the new guidelines put in effect soon, because children need improved standards for meals served at school – meals that include potatoes along with a wide variety of other healthy foods.
Lori Witherow
Secretary, ME PTA
