Gov. Jared Polis on Thursday prohibited the state from buying soda and other sugary drinks for official state functions, part of a multi-department effort to promote healthy eating and drinking for Coloradans.
The executive order comes after a governor-appointed human services board refused to pass a Polis plan to prohibit Coloradans from using food stamps to buy soda. Members of the nine-member board said in March that they were unwilling to impose the sugary drink ban on “poor people” when the rest of Coloradans were free to make their own food choices.
Thursday’s order prohibits state agencies from using state funds to buy soft drinks or alcohol for official state functions, including meetings, conferences or training events. Sugary beverages excluded from the ban are those containing milk or milk alternatives and those made of at least 50% vegetable or fruit juice.
The executive order calls on the state Department of Human Services to continue pursuing changes to the food-assistance program, including prohibiting spending food stamps on sugary drinks. It also directs the department to continue seeking federal approval for a “hot food waiver” that would allow recipients of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program to buy rotisserie chickens and other hot foods in grocery stores, and to improve a perk that incentivizes purchases of fruits and vegetables.
Nearly every state department has an edict from the executive order.
The Colorado Department of Agriculture must expand its “Colorado Proud” school meal program, which emphasizes state-grown food, by 10% statewide.
The Department of Natural Resources and Colorado Parks and Wildlife must work together to promote the message that hunting and fishing “provides a more sustainable option for fresh, lean, organic, and healthy sources of protein.” The departments were ordered to share fish and game recipes on social media and in the Colorado Outdoors magazine beginning in June.
The state health department must increase participation in its diabetes prevention program to 31,000 people by 2029, from 26,362 in 2024. And the Department of Revenue must create a Colorado Proud lottery scratch ticket celebrating Colorado-grown “delicious and healthy Palisade peaches, Rocky Ford cantaloupe, Olathe sweet corn, and Pueblo chiles” by this fall.
The Department of Corrections is required to evaluate the daily nutrition of prisoners to ensure a “nourishing and well-balanced diet,” and the Department of Early Childhood must notify childcare centers every three months about seasonal healthy foods. The Department of Education must boost healthy eating by pushing school districts to spend more than 20% of their food service budgets on local products.
“We are lucky to have so much incredible, delicious produce grown across our state, and we want to help showcase these foods and increase access for everyone,” Polis said in a news release.
While Colorado ranks among the healthiest states, five of the top 10 causes of death in Colorado are related to diet, the governor’s office said. Those are heart disease, cancer, stroke, diabetes and chronic liver disease.
About 38% of Coloradans do not eat fruit daily and 18% do not eat even one vegetable a day, according to 2021 statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Yet Colorado has more than 50 farmers markets and more than 200 farms, ranches and roadside stands selling locally sourced products, the governor’s office said.
Polis announced in August that he had won approval from the U.S. Department of Agriculture for the “healthy choice” plan for SNAP. He needed the human services board to put the rules in place, but the board stalled after dozens of opponents, including 27 state lawmakers who are Democrats, argued the ban was an overreach that would harm the dignity and autonomy of low-income families.
Officials at the state human services department previously said the agency “stands ready to deliver a comprehensive policy package” regarding a SNAP ban on sugary drinks to the human services board.
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