Pass US child nutrition bill - Michelle Obama

US: First Lady Michelle Obama is calling on the U.S. Congress to pass legislation to improve nutritional standards and help fight childhood obesity in American schools.

“We owe it to the children who aren’t reaching their potential because they’re not getting the nutrition they need during the day,” she wrote in the Monday edition of the Washington Post.

“And we owe it to our country — because our prosperity depends on the health and vitality of the next generation.”

The Child Nutrition Bill would allocate $4.5 billion over a decade to support school cafeterias and introduce new standards for food sold in schools, including in vending machines.

The legislation, if passed, would effectively allow the Agriculture Department to ban junk food in schools.

Washington, Monday, Reuters