The Institute of Medicine is expected soon to propose new standards for foods sold in America’s public schools. This is the latest effort to address America’s epidemic of poor nutrition, childhood obesity, and diabetes — an epidemic which, for the love of our children, we can and must stop.

According to the National Academy of Sciences, over the last three decades the obesity rate has doubled among preschoolers and adolescents, and tripled for kids between the ages of 6 and 11. Even more shocking is the fact that an estimated 30 percent of today’s boys and 40 percent of today’s girls will develop diabetes.

Surely, if there’s one place where a precautionary principle should be in effect, it is in our public schools. Schools should be a place where parents know their children are receiving wholesome, nutritious foods and beverages, and being taught good eating habits that will last a lifetime.

Once upon a time, most children ate the basic nutritious lunches and breakfasts funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. But, over the decades, schools have increasingly allowed sales of a steady diet of junk food. USDA’s authority to set school nutrition standards for all food sold in schools has been dramatically constrained.

A decades-old court decision and subsequent congressional inaction has left the Secretary of Agriculture virtually powerless to prevent sales from vending machines and other sources from canceling out the good nutrition in USDA-sponsored school meals. USDA can set standards for food sold in the cafeteria and during mealtime, but not for any other foods sold in schools. This is a loophole big enough to drive a truckload of sugary sodas through — literally. 

The bottom line is that, today, there are effectively no meaningful federal limitations on junk-food sales in school. This undercuts the best efforts of parents, threatens the health of our kids, and undermines the nearly $10 billion in taxpayer dollars that we spend annually to reimburse healthy meals provided through the School Lunch and School Breakfast programs.

It’s time to restore our schools as places where parents can be confident that children receive foods that promote their health and learning. To that end, with my colleagues Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) and Sen. Lisa Murkowksi (R-Alaska), I will again introduce the Child Nutrition Promotion and School Lunch Protection Act. This bill would require USDA to update its archaic nutrition standards. And it would allow USDA to set standards for all foods sold in schools, regardless of the time and place that they are provided. This means that, in addition to supporting nutritious school meals, USDA would set appropriate standards for vending machines, snack bars, and other food sources in schools.

Surveys show overwhelming support for replacing junk food in schools with healthier alternatives. One poll shows that 91 percent of parents favor replacing current vending machine fare with healthy foods and beverages. Now, even soft drink and snack food manufacturers concede it’s time to do something about the school nutrition environment. We have an historic opportunity to extend wholesome USDA nutrition standards throughout our schools.

I also firmly believe that, in addition to getting the junk food out of schools, Congress must do more to get nutritious foods into schools — for example, by providing opportunities for kids to get hooked on fresh fruits and vegetables.

In the last farm bill, I initiated the Fruit and Vegetable Snack Program to do just that. I started this initiative based on a hunch. I didn’t believe the conventional wisdom that kids won’t eat high-quality fresh fruits and vegetables, even if they are made available for free. I’ve always believed that one of the reasons that kids don’t eat fresh fruits and vegetables is because they don’t have the opportunity to do so.

So in the 2002 farm bill we provided fresh fruits and vegetables to more than 100 schools in four states and on an Indian reservation. Not only did the kids, the teachers, the principals and parents love the program, before long we had other states saying that they wanted the program, too. Since that time we’ve expanded the program to additional states and Indian reservations. This is modest progress, but more can be done. I hope that my colleagues will join me in providing fresh fruits and vegetables to many more kids.

Today, many scientists are predicting that the current generation of children will be the first in American history to live shorter lives than their parents, largely because of poor diets and diet-related chronic disease. The good news is that this fate doesn’t have to happen. We can take common-sense steps to protect our children. The obvious place to start is by getting junk food out of our schools, and teaching our kids the pleasures of healthy eating.

Harkin is chairman of the Agriculture Committee.