Opinion: Is SNA for or against foodservice employees?

WASHINGTON—It takes a lot of work to damage or even come close to ruining the image of the people who make lunch and breakfast in schools throughout the United States. But their own organization, the School Nutrition Association, is taking a good stab at it.

SNA championed better nutrition for children for 67 years and supported the 2010 Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act, which called on the Agriculture Department to require schools to provide healthier meals in exchange for an increase in federal spending on school lunches.

This year, SNA has called on Congress to make the Agriculture Department grant waivers from the new rules for any school that says its school-meals program has been losing money for six months, and it asked USDA to roll back some of the regulations. The grounds: The new foods are expensive, and some children don't like them.