FEDERAL GOVERNMENT ACCUSED OF ‘DIETARY RACISM’ BY US FOOD ACTIVISTS

Wed 10 August 2022:

Dozens of US race and food activists recently accused the federal government of ‘dietary racism’ in its school lunch program, claiming that the USDA is forcing millions of non-white lactose intolerant children to drink cow’s milk. Organizations have complained to the USDA’s Equity Commission that the National School Lunch Program (NSLP) is discriminatory and socially unfair.

According to The Hill, the letter goes on to say that black, Native American, Asian, and Latino children are being punished because of their ethnicity and origin.

In 100,000 schools across the US, the NSLP offers free or reduced lunches to nearly 30 million children. According to the National Centre for Education Statistics, over half of them are white; activist groups claim that non-white children are disproportionately dependent on these meals. Additionally, they claimed that non-white children are more likely to be lactose intolerant.

The organisations asserted that a signed doctor’s certificate may be necessary to provide a non-diary substitute and that the NSLP only reimburses schools if they give cow’s milk. However, the NSLP requirements are quite explicit that a non-diary can only be used with written authorisation from the kid’s parent or guardian. Alternatives to cow’s milk must meet USDA nutritional guidelines. Providing water is a mandated practise in the NSLP programme.

Protesters, on the other hand, claimed that the government is forcing children to drink cow’s milk.

According to activist groups, the posters on display are meaningless rhetoric because injustices are inflicted on millions of children every day unless the NSLP program adequately provides for non-white children.

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

FOLLOW INDEPENDENT PRESS:

TWITTER (CLICK HERE)
https://twitter.com/IpIndependent