Kessler discusses child nutrition data, whole milk, and flavored milk
Kessler says childhood nutrition is a major priority and cites data that 5% of younger children and 10% of public high school students had no fruits or vegetables the previous day. She says the bill would allow whole milk because it is recommended for ages one to two, but DOHMH has concerns about added sugars in flavored milk.
What does DOHMH's current public health data show about the nutritional challenges facing children in New York City, particularly with respect to fruit and vegetable consumption, added sugar, sodium, saturated fat, and childhood obesity?
These are all areas of ongoing concern in New York City and a huge priority for us, the health department.
Specifically for fruit and vegetable consumption, one of the things that I think is really promising about the legislation, which would require a fruit and vegetable to be served as part of all kids'meals, is that it really would help just normalize that as part of children's meals.
Some of the more recent data that we have about this is that for kids between up to 13 years old, I think it's 5 to 13, it's 5% of kids who haven't had any fruits and vegetables in the day before.
And for public high school students, that's 10%.
So that's just to give it an indication.
And certainly other nutrients of concern that would be limited by the proposed legislation, at least in chain restaurants.
such as sodium and saturated fat, you know, those are just also things that there's too much consumption of in the American diet and for New Yorkers as well.
Believe me, I look at the labels and I'm like, what?
This is a little bit controversial, this question, but what is DOHMH's position on the consumption of whole milk by children?
The legislation, the current draft of the legislation would allow for whole milk to be served.
And given that this kids meals could be consumed by kids of all ages and whole milk is actually recommended for kids between one and two, we think it makes sense for parents to be able to choose and for that to be available in restaurants.
Is nonfat and low-fat milk healthier than whole milk?
I know there's this whole controversy around this.
I think we apply the New York City food standards for meals that are served in city meals, and those meals have an overall saturated fat limitation requirement.
I think, you know, whole low and reduced fat milk is what is promoted in city food standards for kids.
And this legislation is really thinking about the whole spectrum of age.
What is DOHMH's position on flavored milk?
We do have concerns about the sugars in flavored milk, and this legislation doesn't have limits on added sugars.
And so one way to reduce the amount of added sugars that would be available in kids'meals would be to make this for unflavored milk.
Given just how much sugar kids are consuming, we think that's a good opportunity.
What procedures would DOHMH use to assess compliance with the nutritional limits for chain establishments, including calories, sodium, saturated fat, and fiber?
The specific requirements that are in the proposed legislation for chain restaurants are ones that the FDA does require chain restaurants to disclose, which makes it feasible for that to become part of the inspection process.
And, you know, we look forward to discussing details of the enforcement process.
Is the amended bill that the committee is hearing today enforceable from your perspective?
From our perspective, it is.
And I know that the legislation allows for rulemaking also, which would allow us to add more detail about if necessary.