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USDA wants to allow soy meat alternatives in school lunches

 

December 24, 1999

Web posted at: 11:48 a.m. EST (1648 GMT)

 

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Worried about the fat in kids' meals, federal officials want

to let schools and day care centers serve tofu, veggieburgers and other soy

products as meat substitutes in federally subsidized lunches.

 

The Agriculture Department is proposing to drop its restrictions on how much soy

can be used in meals. Under current rules, soy can only be a food additive and

only in amounts of less than 30 percent.

 

President Reagan's budget crunchers tried to make tofu a meat substitute nearly

two decades ago -- at the same time they tried to reclassify ketchup as a

vegetable -- but they beat a hasty retreat when the idea became a lightning rod

for opponents of his spending cuts. USDA officials deny their motive now is to

save money, arguing instead that soy is a good source of protein.

 

" Its time has come, " said Shirley Watkins, USDA's undersecretary for food,

nutrition and consumer services. " I think people are more receptive than they

would have been five or ten years ago. "

 

Beef, pork and poultry producers are fighting the move, but schools like it

because they are having trouble complying with government limits on the fat

content of meals. And for the fast-growing soy industry, the $6 billion school

lunch program offers a vast new market and a way to introduce families to the

expanding array of new, better-tasting products that have been developed in

recent years.

 

Will kids eat them?

 

Although the proposal would allow schools to offer meatless entrees --

tofu-stuffed ravioli is one menu possibility -- nutritionists say schools are

more likely to use it to increase the amount of soy that they blend into their

standard fare: burgers, tacos and the like.

 

The question is whether kids will still eat them.

 

Market research sponsored by the United Soybean Board indicated the 26 million

children who participate in the school lunch program would accept soy products.

Kids, however, are notoriously finicky consumers, said Lincoln Pierce, director

of nutrition programs for the Grand Junction, Colorado, schools.

 

" If you tell kids there's soy in it, they don't seem to like it as well, " said

Pierce. " In blind tests they approve of it, but their heads haven't caught up

with their taste buds. "

 

USDA's proposal has its roots in a decision the department made in 1994 to start

requiring schools to meet the government's dietary guidelines for fat and

nutrients. That meant that the fat content in school menus could no longer

exceed 30 percent over a week.

 

Schools have cut the amount of cheese in pizzas and the number of meat balls

they serve with spaghetti, but they still struggle to stay under the limit. Some

have tried offering beef patties made with prune puree only to have kids turn up

their noses at what became known around the lunchroom as " prune burgers. "

 

The soy proposal has pit soybean farmers against cattle ranchers and other

livestock producers, who argue that children won't get sufficient protein or

enough iron and zinc if they eat less meat.

 

A standard soyburger, which contains no meat, has 3 grams of fat, compared to 16

in a beef patty, and a significant amount of calcium. But the soyburger has a

third less protein than the beef patty and no iron or zinc.

 

Will children get enough nutrients?

 

Celeste Peggs, executive director of West Virginia's Child Nutrition Office,

says she worries that more children will become anemic if schools cut back on

meat. Iron-rich foods other than meat, such as spinach, " are not always the

popular food items among children, " she said.

 

USDA officials play down those concerns, saying that children will get plenty of

those nutrients from other sources if their meals are balanced.

 

Vegetarians and animal rights activists have flooded USDA with letters and email

messages praising the proposal, but the change may have an impact they don't

want. Allowing a higher soy content will make it easier for schools to keep meat

on their menus, said Carol Tucker Foreman, director of the Consumer Federation

of America's Food Policy Institute.

 

" There is every reason to believe the proposed rule will perpetuate the role of

meat and poultry in the school food programs, not threaten it, " she said.

 

Watkins said she expects the department to make a final decision on the change

by mid-February. USDA approved yogurt as a meat substitute in 1997.

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