are you kidding?

from the proposal language of the USDA Farm Bill 2007:

a section entitled "problem":

"Schools use their cash assistance to purchase the large majority (approximately 80 percent) of the food for school meals, but no current data are available to know what foods are being purchased. "

a section entitled "recommended solution" (emphasis mine):

"Conduct a survey of foods purchased by school food authorities with Federal cash assistance once every 5 years. The most recent data on school food purchases are a decade old. These data would help USDA efforts to 1) provide guidance and technical assistance to school food professionals in the implementation of new rules intended to conform school meal patterns to the most recent Dietary Guidelines for Americans; 2) better manage the types and varieties of commodities procured by the Department on behalf of schools; and 3) assess the economic impact of school food purchases on various commodity sectors."

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i've just started researching this topic in order to give the CRCL kids some leads. this is crazy...