DES MOINES – As children’s waistlines increase right along with adults, one Iowa lawmaker is pushing legislation that would demand healthier food choices at schools.

Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, was joined this month by a bipartisan coalition in introducing a bill that would update decades-old federal nutrition standards on food sold in schools, including vending machines and snack bars.

The bill would remove junk foods and sodas and replace them with healthier snacks.

Many American children eat up to two meals a day at school, and Harkin said too many are choosing snack foods – such as high-salt chips and high-fat sweets – instead of nutritious meals at the cafeteria.

“Junk food sales in schools are out of control,” he said. “It undercuts our investment in school meal programs and steers kids toward a future of obesity and diet-related disease. Congress cannot stand idly by while our kids are preyed upon by junk-food marketers.”

Lisa Katic is a registered dietitian and nutritional adviser to the Snack Foods Association, an international trade group representing more than 800 companies. She said the association doesn’t support the bill as it stands but does back some of its provisions, including grants for physical education programs and for making more fruits and vegetables available to students.

Katic said denying children a choice in foods isn’t as successful as emphasizing good nutrition, something she called the cornerstone of a healthy diet.

Students “are not necessarily learning if they are just taking foods away,” she said.