Bloomington is a Food Desert 47 minutes ago

Did you enjoy a good, healthy meal today? Were you able to include fresh fruits and vegetables as a part of your meal? Did you have easy access to the fresh produce? Believe it or not, many folks in Victoria County do not have adequate access to fresh food as they live in a food desert. According to the USDA, a food desert is defined as "parts of the country vapid of fresh fruit, vegetables and other healthful whole foods, usually found in impoverished areas.

Lack of political will, stereotypes about SNAP beneficiaries hold…

Two of the biggest hurdles to ending hunger in the US is lack consequences for politicians who vote against programs designed to reduce hunger and food insecurity, and misconceptions about who receives the benefits, Rep. Jim McGovern told food policy stakeholders gathered in Washington, DC, April 11. "Hunger is a political condition" that is "maddening" to solve because "we have the money, we have the resources, we have the infrastructure, we have the brain power, we have everything - but we don't have the political will" to make changes necessary to end hunger in the US, McGovern said at the Consumer Federation of America's National Food Policy Conference.

San Bernardino school had no knowledge of teacher’s troubled relationship with shooter, police say

California school officials at the site of Monday's killing and suicide that left three people dead had no prior knowledge of the ongoing con... -- In the wake of the U.S. airstrikes in Syria last week in response to a chemical attack that killed dozens of people, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said it... WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Senator Pat Roberts, R-Kan., Chairman of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry, today welcomed an announcement from the U.S. D... Kearney, Neb.

new Republicans hope Trump amenable to food stamp restrictions

Maine resident Zak McCutcheon says he likes soda but acknowledges he'd drink less of it if his governor convinced Republican President Donald Trump to put restrictions on the approximately $200 a month he receives in food stamps. He thinks it may even make recipients healthier and less overweight.

Hangry in the school caf: Sharing some food is off the table

School officials in a Connecticut town are criticizing new restrictions on lunchroom "share tables," which encourage students to donate uneaten food for any classmates who may be hungry. The concept has been promoted by the U.S. Agriculture Department as a way to reduce waste, but it is up to local governments to determine what health codes will allow.

New Study Suggests Eating Whole Grains Can Aid Weight Loss

Switching from a diet of refined to whole grains may help to achieve weight loss goals and bolster health, according to a new study published Wednesday. The findings, released in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition , suggest that eating whole grains is connected with an increase in calorie loss because it boosts metabolism and reduces the amount of calories that are retained during digestion.

USDA Announces Seven Retailers to Participate in Pilot Program, Accept Food Stamps Online

The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced a pilot program that would allow participants in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program to purchase groceries online. Seven retailers will begin accepting food stamps online as part of an effort to make healthy food more available to Americans dependent on the SNAP program.

North End schools participate in federal chef program

Through the USDA-sponsored "Cooking for Kids" program, schools applied to have a chef come to their cafeterias several times a year to work with the food service employees to improve methods and best practices, as well as implement new menu items, the Enid News & Eagle reported. Chisholm Food Service Director Rhonda Robinett said members of the district attended a "Cooking for Kids" conference during the summer.

Presidential Proclamation — National School Lunch Week, 2016

Seventy years ago, President Harry Truman signed the National School Lunch Act, declaring "Nothing is more important in our national life than the welfare of our children, and proper nourishment comes first in attaining this welfare." This Act created the National School Lunch Program and provided lunch to 7 million children in its first year -- today, more than 30 million children depend on it each day.

New Haven program aims to curb gap in food security

In order to make sure one less child goes hungry over the summer, officials and volunteers gathered Saturday to kick off the city's Free Summer Meals program. From June 27 to Aug. 26, low-income children 18 and under will be eligible to receive meals at 91 different sites throughout the city.

We should never have told people to start taking vitamins

Decades of research has failed to find any substantial evidence that vitamins and supplements do any significant good. And our obsession with vitamins masks a much bigger problem: That's the premise of science writer Catherine Price's latest book, " Vitamania ," which explores how the tiny, colorful pills transformed the way we think about food.

David Sarasohn: Fighting over lunch money

"I spent a lot of my time at my last school in Utah tracking down families who owed lunch money," he recalls, not exactly nostalgically. Welch has been able to think about education more lately because of a change in the school lunch rules in 2010, that allow schools with at least 40 percent of their students on food stamps or Medicaid to serve everybody free lunch.

Benefits of GMOs get collection of opinions

Other than being crops the majority of Americans consume and use daily, these items, unless certified organic, are genetically modified COOKE'S FOOD STORE and Pharmacy has its USDA Certified Organic produce in its own section. The store confirmed the locally grown produce, like Grainger County tomatoes, is not genetically modified either.