CNN "Erin Burnett Outfront" - Transcript: School Lunch Standards

Interview

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BURNETT: Joining me now, Republican Congressman Robert Aderholt. He is backing the bill that would let cash-strapped schools opt out of the nutrition regulations.

Congressman, you just heard the first lady there. Look, the standards that she fought for were put in place to specifically reduce sodium and increase things that pretty much we all can agree are pretty good, right -- whole grains, fresh fruits and vegetables.

Why would you let anyone opt out of that?

REP. ROBERT ADERHOLT (R), ALABAMA: Well, a couple of things. First of all, it's really not opt out. They're granted a one-year waiver. And it's only for the schools that are finding it hard to meet.

What is happening as more students are not eating the food, the participation is going down. And the students that are eating it are throwing the food away. And you're seeing just a tremendous amount of waste.

A lot of schools operator on a very tight budget. They're having trouble meeting -- financially trying to meet the standards that are required by them by this act and by the USDA as they are telling the schools what they have to do.

This is saying if you're having a problem, that you can ask for a waiver and the USDA can grant you a waiver.

BURNETT: What about, though, and I'm curious. You talk about waste being an issue. The kids are throwing it away. The food, and that that adds up.

But, you know, I'm a new parent. I would say look, a lot of these kids, first of all, aren't getting great nutrition at home. Wouldn't the answer be to say, well, hey, guys, you can't leave the lunchroom until you have eaten your broccoli. You can't throw it away.

ADERHOLT: Well, the problem with these rules are so onerous, they really go beyond racing (ph). I was reading an article a couple of weeks ago where a school in Illinois decided to completely get out of the program because a bald egg does not meet the standards that are coming out of USDA. And anything over 12 ounces of skim milk has too much fat in it for these standards.

So we're not talking about, you know, feeding hamburgers and hot dogs and pizza every day to the kids. The nutritional workers in these lunch rooms, they want to provide healthy foods for their kids. They're wanting to do the right thing. And it's not like they're trying to make the kids obese.

They're just -- and I'm hearing this from the people who work in the lunchroom.

BURNETT: You know, it's an interesting point, but I mean, again, those who are fighting against the standards include the school nutrition association, you know, which sounds like a good moniker, right? But obviously gets funded by a lot of companies that supply food to the schools, including the company that makes M&M's and Twix, Domino's Pizza, company called Swan Food that makes pizza ice cream and bread sticks.

I mean, you know, the way it was before --

ADERHOLT: Well, I can tell you --

BURNETT: I mean, it would seem to me that any standards are better than that kind of -- for lack of a better word, crap.

ADERHOLT: The people who work in the lecture room won't create healthy foods for their kids. Again, do you think a hard boiled egg is too much for a kid to eat? Or over 12 ounces of skim milk, is that a standard that you're saying is too much?

BURNETT: I see your point, I mean --

ADERHOLT: Really, if you look at the standards we're not talking about feeding M&M's, and hamburgers everyday, we're talking about just trying basically it is very little catsup, very little salt, the food is not tasty anymore. The kids are not eating it. They're going to McDonald's. They go into -- they're bringing foods that are not half as healthy as the normal lunch program and it's killing the program.

And a lot of these schools are having problems. And all they're saying is we just are having problems. We're asking for a waiver for 12 months to see if we can try to meet these standards.

That's all we're doing. We're not asking to completely roll back the standards.

BURNETT: All right. Congressman, thank you very much for taking the time, sir.

ADERHOLT: Thank you. It's good to be with you.

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