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Tomorrow • • •
Begins Today
Mission
To improve the health and education of children by creating
innovative public and private partnerships that promote food
choices for a healthful diet through the media, schools,
families, and the community.
Principles
Supporters of Team Nutrition shore these common values:
1. We believe that children should be empowered to
make food choices that reflect the Dietary Guidelines
for Americans.
2. We believe that good nutrition and physical activity are
essential to children's health and educational success.
3. We believe that school meals that meet the Dietary
Guidelines for Americans should appeal to children
and taste good.
4. We believe our programs must build upon the best
science, education, communication, and technical
resources available.
5. We believe that public-private partnerships are
essential to reaching children to promote food choices
for a healthful diet.
6. We believe that messages to children should be ageappropriate
and delivered in a language they speak,
through media they use, in ways that ore entertaining
and actively involve them in learning.
7. We believe in focusing on positive messages regarding
food choices children can make.
B. We believe it is critical to stimulate and support action
and education at the national, state, and local levels to
successfully change children's eating behaviors.
..
'
USDA•s Team Nutrition
he USDA School Meals Initiative for Healthy
Children underscores our national health
responsibility to provide meals at school for
children that are consistent with the Dietary
Guidelines for Americans and current scientific
nutritional recommendations. This initiative
established a comprehensive four-point
framework for action to continuously improve
school meals:
1. Eating for Health: Meeting the Dietary
Guidelines
2. Making Food Choices: Nutrition Education,
Training, and Technical Assistance
3. Maximizing Resources: Getting the Best Value
4. Managing for the Future: Streamlined
Administration
The vision of the USDA School
USDA's Team
: Nutrition supports
I
Meals Initiative for Healthy Children
is simple •••
Improve the health and education
of children through better
nutrition.
'our commitment to
improve the
nutritional health
of America's
children.~
• Don Glickman
Secretory of Agriculture
A major part of this improvement is
the nutritional standard that school
lunches and breakfasts must meet
the Dietary Guidelines for Americans.
However, just enacting policies will
not accomplish this change, and
USDA cannot do this job alone. That
is why USDA established Team
Nutrition, a nationwide integrated
program designed to help implement the School
Meals Initiative for Healthy Children.
The mission of Team Nutrition is • • •
To improve the health and education of
children by creating innovative public and
private partnerships that promote food
choices for a healthful diet through the
media, schools, families, and the community.
Initiatives
+ Nutrition Education-a multifaceted
educational program delivered through the
media, in schools, and at home that builds
..Team Nutrition
recognizes that
good nutrition and
physical activity
are essential to
children's health
and educational
success.~
•
Ellen Haas
Under Secretory for
Food, Nutrition and
Consumer Services
skills and motivates children to
make food choices for a healthy
diet. This effort brings proven,
focused, science-based nutrition
messages to children in a language
that they understand while
strengthening social support for
children's healthy food choices
among parents, educators, and food
service professionals.
This initiative is built around a
framework of in-school and mass
media efforts, with an emphasis on
the school setting to relate to
nutrition policy changes in school
meals. These efforts are
supplemented with materials
developed and distributed through
partner networks and directly by
USDA's Food and Consumer Service
and USDA's Cooperative State Research,
Education, and Extension Service and other
government agencies such as the Department
of Education and the Department of Health and
Human Services.
+ Training and Technical Assistance-a
"change-driven" program providing
support to school food service personnel
implementing the Dietary Guidelines for
Americans. This effort will ensure that school
nutrition and food service personnel have
the education, motivation, training, and
skills necessary to provide healthy meals that
appeal to the children served and meet the
USDA nutrition requirements. These
personnel will also have a clear vision of
their role in the school community and as
integral team members of comprehensive
school health programs.
Training standards will be established and a
resource system will enable instructors and food
service personnel to access resources for education
and training programs. Up to 25 Team Nutrition
Training Grants will be awarded in 1995 to assist
states in developing a sustainable infrastructure
of training programs that help school districts
to implement updated nutrition standards. The
Great Nutrition Adventure began in April 1995-a
program involving volunteer chefs who join local
schools in a series of imaginative and educational
cafeteria and classroom events designed to
promote healthy eating. Team Nutrition will
work closely with a variety of chefs, universities,
food producers, professional organizations, and
others to develop and distribute the training
programs, recipes, menus, manuals, and other
assistance materials.
Message Themes
"Making Food Choices for a Healthy Diet" is
Team Nutrition's theme. Messages have been
developed to support the theme based upon the
Dietary Guidelines for Americans and the Food
Guide Pyramid and will help children to:
+ Expand the variety of foods in their diet.
+ Add more fruits, vegetables, and grains
to the foods they already eat.
+ Construct a diet lower in fat.
Public-Private Support
Team Nutrition is a ground-breaking effort to link
USDA and all those who touch children's lives.
Extensive strategic public-private partnerships
will extend Team Nutrition's initiatives reach
and amplify the messages, thereby leveraging
the investments of USDA and its Team Nutrition
partners. With support from around the country
for nutrition education, training, and technical
assistance, Team Nutrition will improve the
health and education of our children.
JOIN THE TEAM
TEAM Nutrition
31 01 Park Center Drive, Room 802
Alexandria, VA 22302
For more information call (703) 305-1624 or
fax (703) 305-2148 or
e-Mail to teamnutrition@reeusda.gov
Team Nutrition is an initiative of the
United States Department of Agriculture
The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) prohibits
discrimination in its programs on the basis of race, color, national
origin, sex, religion, age, disability, political beliefs, and marital or
familial status. (Not all prohibited bases apply to all programs). Persons
with disabilities who require alternative means for communication of
program information (braille, large print, audiotape, etc.) should contact
the USDA Office of Communications at (202) 720-5881 (voice) or
(202) 720-7808 {TOO).
To file a complaint, write the Secretary of Agriculture, U.S. Department
of Agriculture, Washington, D.C., 20250, or call (202) 720-7327 (voice)
or (202) 720-1127 (TOO). USDA is an equal employment opportunity
employer.
(June 1995)
