“Kristin Groos Richmond, co-founder of Revolution Foods, says despite a $16 billion market for food in schools, she felt there was no good way of delivering healthy meals. Instead she created a school-dinners company that used healthy and locally produced food with an emphasis on using children to design, and test, the meals. Something seems to be working: the company recently won a contract to serve food to 114 schools in the San Francisco Unified School District, and subsequently the proportion of children who chose to eat the free meals jumped by 12%.

“Research shows that the majority of food ads seen by children were for unhealthful products.13- 17 For example, a study using television ratings data found that 97.8% of advertisements seen by children aged 2 to 11 years were for products high in fat, sugar, or sodium.

“The simple fact that organic food is produced without antibiotics and pesticides is enough to justify their buying it.

“Cholesterol levels in U.S. children improved in the past two decades as makers of cookies, crackers and French fries responded to public concern that trans fats used in their products may be harmful to health.

“The U.S. Department of Agriculture would be required to permit modified crops to be planted and sold into the food supply after the agency’s approvals have been invalidated by a court, under a provision in the fiscal 2013 agriculture spending bill approved by the House Appropriations committee today. The one-paragraph provision in the the 90-page bill would circumvent legal obstacles that have slowed commercialization of engineered crops, sometimes for years, benefiting Monsanto, the world’s largest seed company. Planting would be permitted until USDA completes any analysis required by a judge.