JUDY WOODRUFF: When Michelle
Obama was first lady, one of
her key initiatives was to push

for healthier nutrition and
food choices. That translated
into a change for public school

lunches around the country.

But the Trump administration
and some state officials argue
that the Obama administration

went too far, and this
administration has been rolling
back some of those moves.

As Amna Nawaz tells us,
today, the U.S. Department
of Agriculture proposed
additional changes.

AMNA NAWAZ: That's right, Judy.

The Trump administration already
changed the Obama standards
for whole grains, sodium and

nonfat milk. Today, it
approached new rules
that would role back
the amount of fruits

and vegetables required at
school breakfasts and lunches.

These programs feed
nearly 30 million students
around the country. Some
advocates are worried

about these changes.

Crystal FitzSimons is
among them. She's the
director of school and
out of school programs

at the Food Research and
Action Center, an advocacy
group that targets hunger
and undernutrition.

Welcome back to the "NewsHour."

CRYSTAL FITZSIMONS, Food and
Research Action Center: Thank
you for having me on today.

AMNA NAWAZ: So, the
justification from the
administration is, look,
the Obama era rules

led to low participation
from schools and a
lot more food waste.

The agriculture secretary, Sonny
Perdue, actually said, this is
commonsense flexibility that

these programs need to continue
to provide nutritious school
lunches and breakfasts.

What do you say to that?

CRYSTAL FITZSIMONS: Well, I
would say that that's not right.

I think that we need to be
providing the most healthy meals
possible. The changes that were

made under the Obama
administration really
did a lot to help improve
the nutrition quality

of the meals that are being
served. And we know that more
than 30 million kids are relying

on school lunch each
day for healthy lunches.

And we should be providing the
healthiest lunches possible.

AMNA NAWAZ: But was there, as
a result of those regulations,
low participation and an

increase in food
waste? Do we know that?

CRYSTAL FITZSIMONS: No, we know
that there is participation,
that participation has been

remaining pretty strong.

And we know that there are lots
of things that contribute to
kids not eating their lunches.

Kids really do need to
have enough time in order
to eat their lunches.
And too many schools

actually do not provide enough
time during the lunch hour.

And we know that there's
millions of kids who live in
households that struggle against

hunger. And we know that we have
a huge obesity epidemic. And
we really need to be working

hard to make sure that we're
providing fruits and vegetables,
healthy food, whole grains,

low sodium, all those good
things that are going to allow
kids to get the nutrition they

need to learn and be healthy.

AMNA NAWAZ: Help me put sort
of a finer point on it here to
understand what this looks like.

So, previously, a standard
breakfast, say, under
the previous rules,
they had to provide

one cup of fruit. What
would be different now
under the new rules?

CRYSTAL FITZSIMONS: So now
they would be required to
provide just half-a-cup.

AMNA NAWAZ: Just half-a-cup.

CRYSTAL FITZSIMONS: And so there
would be less fruit on the tray.

And that flexibility -- we want
kids to be eating fruit. We
want the schools to be offering

healthy fruit. We want them to
be introducing fruit to kids
and different kinds of fruit.

And we want schools to be
working hard to make sure that
they're providing appealing

meals.

AMNA NAWAZ: A lot of the
headlines are talking
about burgers and french
fries as well. Under

the previous rules, schools
had to provide at lunchtime
at least a sort of variety of

vegetables.

What's new? What
would be different?

CRYSTAL FITZSIMONS: Right.

So there's more flexibility
in providing vegetables.
So we would expect to
see more french fries

on the school lunch tray.

AMNA NAWAZ: And so here's the
question, because, obviously,
you're assuming that they will

take the lower nutritional
value option, if
given the option here.

I want to put to you, though,
the statement from the School
Nutrition Association, right?

This is the organization
of cafeteria workers,
all the businesses that
provide the food to

those schools. They
welcomed these changes.

And they said, look,
the upgraded nutrition
standards for school meals
have been a tremendous

success overall. But then
they cited the same things the
administration did, saying that

there has been reduced
participation and higher costs.

You're assuming that they will
provide less healthy options,
but might they uphold the

same nutritional standards even
if they're not required to?

CRYSTAL FITZSIMONS: So there
are plenty of schools across
the country that are not going

to roll back the standards.
There are a lot of school
nutrition departments and a lot

of school districts that
are really committed to
providing healthy meals.

But we want to make sure that
kids in Oregon have as healthy
meals as kids in Illinois,

and kids in Alabama need
to have as healthy meals
as kids in California.

We really -- it's a
national program. We
need national standards,
and we need to make sure

that kids are
getting healthy food.

AMNA NAWAZ: When you look at the
student population, you know who
participates and who relies on

a lot of these programs.

Who are you worried is going
to be most affected by these
potential changes and how?

CRYSTAL FITZSIMONS: Right.

So, the vast majority of kids
who participate in the school
lunch program are low-income

and do receive either free or
reduced-price school lunches.
And we know that those meals

are actually often the meals
that they're going to be
relying on and their only meals.

So we want to make sure they're
healthy. And we need to make
sure that they have access

to them. And schools can do a
lot to reduce - - can reduce
plate waste by making sure that

they do have enough time to eat.

So there are strategies. Schools
are doing salad bars. Schools
are doing farm to school.

There's really wonderful,
creative ways that
schools across the
country are making sure

that kids want to eat their
fruits and vegetables.
And we want to make
sure that's happening

in every school.

And we do not want to see
these rollbacks to the
school nutrition standards.

AMNA NAWAZ: Just a
few seconds left.

I should mention this is a
proposed new rule, right?

CRYSTAL FITZSIMONS: It is, yes.

AMNA NAWAZ: It goes into
an open comment period
in the coming days.

Do you see this as a done
deal? Do you think there's any
way that these rules don't go

through?

CRYSTAL FITZSIMONS: Well, I
think it's not a done deal if
everybody responds and submits

comments.

So there's a huge opportunity
here to weigh in on this, to
let people know that we don't

want to see these standards
rolled back. And people should
really take that step and take

the time to let the
administration know that
they want healthy meals
in their school breakfast

and school lunch programs.

AMNA NAWAZ: This is
such an important topic.

Crystal FitzSimons of the Food
Research and Action Center,
thanks for being with us again.

CRYSTAL FITZSIMONS:
Thank you for having me.