Thank you for the opportunity to provide comments to the committee on the issue of competitive foods in schools.  I am the Director of Food & Nutrition Service in Rockingham County Public Schools and I served on the DOE competitive food task force, assisting in the development of the standards as the Public Policy Chair of the School Nutrition Association of Virginia at the time of the drafting (2011). 

In Rockingham, we have 11,700 students and approximately 13% of our program revenue comes from a la carte sales.  Our program is self-supporting, in that our department receives no local financial assistance, just the paying customer and the federal reimbursement.  OK, we do receive just $.045 per lunch of state assistance, but this doesn’t even pay for a pack of crackers.  Thirteen (13%) percent of our revenue comes from a la carte sales.  Any state restriction of a la carte items that can or can’t be sold in cafeterias (more stringent than the federal standards) are not acceptable and would result in further financial losses for our program.

Currently, the federal competitive foods regulations are set to be implemented in July 2014.  These rules mandate nutrition requirements of competitive foods and beverages for calories, fat and saturated fat, sugar and sodium and portion sizes.  I support the School Nutrition Association of Virginia's position that federal competitive foods regulations should govern school nutrition programs.  My remembrance of the conversations of the stake holders involved in the task force was that there was a strong desire to have the Virginia standards be aligned with the Federal standards.  Beginning in July 2014, my belief is that the following three outcomes can be satisfied:

1.      Districts who receive federal reimbursement will need to comply with strict federal standards (very similar to proposed state standards, but different, none the less).

2.     State legislators should recognize that the intent of the state regulations are being met by federal standards.

3.     Students in many schools will be limited in their access to “junk food”.

The most efficient, common sense way to achieve this is to have the Virginia standards aligned with the federal standards.

Gerald Lehman, MS, RD, Director, Food & Nutrition Service, RCPS