Usda Announces Commodities Getting Nutritional Upgrades

While the Department of Agriculture urges Americans to eat a healthy diet, that same agency has been dumping surplus government commodities onto school cafeterias. Cheese, beef, butter, fried potatoes - you name the fatty foods, schools get them for free.

The situation has slowly been getting better, however, and efforts got a jump start last month when the Agriculture Department announced that 23 commodities will be getting nutritional upgrades.

Companies making products from refried beans to ready-to-eat cereals to canned red tart cherries for the government’s feeding programs will have to follow new specifications to reduce fat, sodium or sugar.

To help support farmers, the USDA purchases surplus farm products. Some are further processed into canned or frozen items. Others, such as grains or fruits and vegetables, are simply donated in their natural, unprocessed forms.

In 1994-95, the department spent $668 million buying about 1 million pounds of food for the school lunch program - approximately 17 percent of the food served in publicschool cafeterias nationwide. Commodities are also distributed as part of other government feeding programs, including those for the young, the elderly and Native Americans.

The changes announced recently resulted from recommendations by the Commodity Improvement Council, established last year as part of the USDA’s overall efforts to improve the nutritional quality of school lunches.

This is “certainly more than a beginning,” said Mary Ann Keeffe, deputy administrator for food and consumer services at the USDA. “I think schools will really notice a difference.”

In its review, the USDA’s task force looked at all 142 of the commodities it distributes. More than two-thirds were eliminated from modification because they are foods that are purchased unprocessed. Of the remaining 46 commodities, 23 were excluded because “they were pretty much at a level that you couldn’t tinker with anymore,” said Keeffe.

Here are some of the changes recommended for the remaining 23 items. Some of the recommendations hinge on student and industry acceptance. Others are expected to be in place by the end of the 1995-96 school year.

Frozen ground beef and frozen ground pork: Reduce maximum fat content by at least one percentage point a year, from 17-19 percent in 1995-96 to 15-17 percent by 1997-98.

Light mozzarella cheese: Purchase with a maximum fat content of 10.8 percent as an alternative to part-skimmed mozzarella, which contains a maximum of 21 percent fat.

Reduced-fat peanut butter: Purchase with a maximum fat content of 12 grams of fat per two-tablespoon serving.

Frozen potato wedges: Purchase wedges as a lower-fat alternative to potato rounds and french fries.

Canned tuna and salmon: Reduce maximum amount of salt from 1.5 percent to about 1 percent.

The task force also recommended that the USDA work with private industry to develop some new products, including light butter, lowfat macaroni and cheese, meatless spaghetti sauce, prune puree (as a fat substitute), reduced-fat cheese sauce and boneless turkey ham.