American Frozen Food Institute (AFFI) President and CEO Kraig R. Naasz has commended the U.S. House of Representatives for approving legislation as part of the Farm Bill that enhances the ability of elementary school nutritionists to serve a wider range of healthy fruit and vegetable snacks to underprivileged school children. The Farm Bill sets federal nutrition and agriculture policy for the next five years.
The nutrition component of the Farm Bill adopted on Sept. 20 by the U.S. House of Representatives expands the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Fruit and Vegetable Program to allow schools to serve all forms of fruit and vegetables—including frozen—as snacks. Under current law, participating schools are restricted to serving only fresh produce.
“AFFI welcomes House passage of this much-needed expansion of USDA’s Fruit and Vegetable Program,” said Naasz. “Including frozen fruits and vegetables in the program will better enable school nutritionists to meet the needs of underprivileged children by offering the widest possible variety of healthy and affordable fruits and vegetables throughout the entire school-year.
He continued: “We look forward to working with the fruit and vegetable community, school nutritionists and congressional lawmakers to ensure the final Farm Bill approved by Congress includes this important snack program expansion.”
This legislation now goes to conference where members of the U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate are expected to reconcile their competing versions of the Farm Bill.
The American Frozen Food Institute is the national trade association promoting and representing the interests of all segments of the frozen food industry. AFFI works to foster industry development and growth, and advocates before legislative and regulatory entities on the industry’s behalf. More information can be found at www.affi.org.
