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Congress considered and then dropped an amendment to the Farm Bill that would have brought food and drinks sold in school vending machines and snack lines under federal control and regulation. Senators Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) and Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) cosponsored the legislation, called the National School Nutrition Standards Amendment. The two senators have promised to reintroduce similar legislation until it passes.
The amendment would limit saturated fat, trans fat, and sugar in snack foods. Snacks sold in elementary and middle schools could contain no more than 180 calories per serving, and those sold in high schools no more than 200 calories. The legislation would ban all drinks besides water, milk and juice in elementary and middle schools. In high schools, it would also allow diet soft drinks in all vending machines and sports drinks such as Gatorade in vending machines in gyms.
The legislation would overrule state standards for the sale of such foods, and disallow states from adding their own regulations. Individual school districts would still be allowed to create stricter standards.
The federal Department of Agriculture already enforces national regulations on the standard cafeteria food provided for students' lunch and breakfast.
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