Republican congressman wants to keep federal 'food police' out of school fundraisers

Federal nutrition standards developed by the Department of Agriculture aim at regulating the number of calories and fats in foods sold in schools, and Rep. Ted Poe (R-Texas) wants the fed to stop putting a damper on school bake sales.

"The federal food police need to stay out of our schools," Poe said. "First, the regulators came into our lunchrooms, then vending machines, and now school fundraisers."

Poe has introduced a bill that would "prevent federal nutrition standards from being applied to fundraisers," The Hill reports.

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Poe said in a statement that "Washington bureaucrats have no business telling any American what they can and cannot eat," and called the nutritional rules "an example of gross government overreach" and "abuse of government power."

The Hill points out, however, that states have the option of exempting themselves from the federal standards, though Poe's home state of Texas is not one of the 22 states to have done so.