Tuesday, February 26, 2008

Mad Cows, Bad Enforcement

The first outbreak of mad cow disease in the US occurred in Yakima, WA. Hence, Washingtonians have a stake in the the federal oversight of food safety.

Monday, February 25, 2008

Local Farms-Healthy Kids still needs funding

The Local Farms-Healthy Kids legislation has passed the first critical tests in the Washington Legislature. The policy has passed both the House and the Senate with nearly unanimous support. The next challenge will be attaching the funds to the program.

Diane Urbani de la Paz of the Peninsula Daily News asks whether there is enough support for Local Farms-Healthy Kids to pass the budget test.

If you'd like to have your voice heard on the issue, you can contact the Legislative Hotline at 1-800-562-6000 this week and ask your Senators to fully fund Local Farms-Healthy Kids.

Monday, February 18, 2008

Local Farms, Healthy Kids Passes House!

The Local Farms-Healthy Kids Bill is moving along through our state legislature.
The Washington House of Representatives passed the Local Farms-Healthy Kids bill 95-1 on February 15. There are still many hurdles ahead.

To learn more about the bill, see Jennifer Langston's article in the Seattle P-I: Bill aims to put more farm-fresh foods on school lunch menus. She describes some challenges to farm to school programs, and provides some insight into how the Local Farms-Healthy Kids bill addresses them. From the article:

"I don't think there's another state that's putting together such a
comprehensive soup-to-nuts package," said Thomas Forster, policy director for
the national Community Food Security Coalition.