Patriot Update

New rules on school meals inspired by Michelle Obama were intended to wipe out hunger and malnutrition among American students – but some are complaining they have had the opposite effect.

High schools are now forbidden from giving pupils more than 850 calories for their lunch – even if they are fast-growing teenagers or even student athletes who can burn through 5,000 calories a day.

One enterprising group of adolescents channelled their anger at the policy into a parody YouTube video promoting their cause entitled ‘We Are Hungry’.

The new restrictions were mandated by the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010, signed into law during the lame-duck period of the last Congress in December 2010.