Notes

WASHINGTON — Michelle Obama has steered clear of most messy legislative battles. But on Tuesday the first lady publicly took on lawmakers, food companies and lunch ladies who say the school lunch law she championed nearly four years ago is leading kids to brown bag it.

The attempt to scale back new nutrition standards for the federal school lunch program is unacceptable, Obama declared. She delivered the remarks at a meeting with school nutrition officials that launched her public campaign to defend the law. The first lady blasted lawmakers for playing “politics with our kids’ health.” She suggested they were trying to “roll back everything we have worked for.”

She said, “It’s unacceptable to me not just as first lady, but also as a mother.”

The unusually confrontational remarks were a departure for the first lady. She has largely sought to work with the food industry and around Congress in her campaign against childhood obesity. As the nation’s best-known healthy-eating advocate, Obama has typically emphasized partnerships and pledges with the makers of gummy fruit snacks and sweetened cereals. She's been aiming for incremental changes in their products and increased marketing of healthier options.

Whole Grains, Fresh Fruit

The Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010 set new standards for school food. But since pushing for the law, Obama has rarely waded into legislative or regulatory debates. The law set guidelines for the amount of sodium in school lunches and breakfasts and targets for more whole grains and fresh fruit.

The law is being challenged in Congress. The School Nutrition Association, a coalition of school officials and the food companies that sell mini-pizzas and chicken nuggets to schools, wants the law gone. Its members include Pizza Hut, Coca-Cola, Chobani Greek yogurt and Tyson Food Service, according to the group’s website.

The group supported the law in 2010, but now its leaders say the regulations it created are too rigid.

House Republicans have backed the group’s efforts. A House committee is to vote Thursday on a provision that would allow school districts that have been operating at a loss to seek a one-year exemption from the nutrition guidelines. The measure is expected to win approval in the House.

The exemption is aimed at schools that have seen resources slide. In some districts, more paying students are opting out of school lunches and bringing their own food. Some districts say they have had trouble finding affordable products that meet the nutrition standards. Meanwhile, they say, they have watched students throw away large amounts of the healthy food that land on their trays.

Fruits And Veggies Optional?

“These new federal regulations should not drive local school nutrition programs underwater. This temporary one-year waiver simply throws them a lifeline,” said Brian Rell, a spokesman for Republican Rep. Robert B. Aderholt of Alabama, chairman of the agriculture subcommittee, which approved the provision last week.

Supporters of the exemption described it as a modest attempt to add flexibility to the program. They said the first lady’s response seemed out of proportion.

But the White House has appeared eager to play offense to protect a key piece of how the first lady will be remembered. White House officials helped with a letter by former presidents of the School Nutrition Association opposing the exemption plan.

The association is also seeking other changes to the law. They propose scrapping a requirement that foods be 100 percent whole-grain by July 2014 and sticking with the current 50 percent target. They want to hold to the newly enacted standard for sodium rather than a lower target scheduled to go into effect in a few years. And they support eliminating the requirement that students take a fruit or vegetable, regardless of whether they plan to eat it.

Is Pizza Sauce A Vegetable?

The association “does not want to gut the nutrition standards — we support many of the requirements," said Leah Schmidt, president. "Our request for flexibility under the new standards does not come from industry or politics. It comes from thousands of school cafeteria professionals who have shown how these overly prescriptive regulations are hindering their effort to get students to eat healthy school meals."

The White House argues that the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), which administers the program, has been flexible. The USDA already delayed a whole-grain provision for pasta. This was in response to complaints that some such pastas were unpopular and could be hard to find. Officials argued against having lawmakers determine what is healthy, noting that lawmakers have bent to food industry complaints in the past, such as an effort in 2011 to classify pizza with tomato sauce as a vegetable.

“What we’re not going to do is put politics and interests ahead of what’s good for our kids and allow politicians to set nutrition standards,” said Sam Kass, director of the first lady’s anti-obesity campaign. Kass is also the White House chef. He said the first lady’s office hoped to amplify the voices of those school officials who think the guidelines are helping kids eat healthier diets. The USDA estimates that 90 percent of schools are in compliance.

On Tuesday, David Binkle, director of food services for the Los Angeles Unified School District, joined the first lady for the event. Binkle noted that he was a member of the School Nutrition Association. But he said its “hard line” on the law did not reflect his views. Binkle said he had not had trouble procuring food that meets the federal guidelines or stricter local nutrition standards. He also noted that the “plate waste” critics point to was a problem before the 2010 law.

“In fact, we don’t serve the typical corn dog and chicken nuggets,” he said. “We don’t even have pizza on the menu.”