BOSTON – The School Nutrition Association rejected a request by the White House to appear at its conference and tout the “Let’s Move” school lunch campaign.

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Politico reports:

Michelle Obama’s food policy czar, celebrity chef Sam Kass, was once so in with the lunch lady crowd that he landed a guest judge spot on a tearful school lunch episode of Food Network’s “Chopped” and handed out awards at the School Nutrition Association’s convention in Denver.

Two years later, when he asked to speak at the group’s annual convention this week in Boston, the answer: “No.”

Ouch. The White House can’t even get love from lunch ladies.

The snub stems from the recent reversal by the SNA of its support for Michelle Obama’s school lunch overhaul. The group, once an ally of Obama’s in making school lunches “healthier,” is now opposed to the regulations.

The SNA now believes the federal rules are “overly prescriptive” and are doing more harm than good.

“Kass, through the Department of Agriculture, asked to speak at SNA’s conference this week ‘to rally the troops’ on the nutrition standards. This year, roughly 6,500 school nutrition professionals are attending the conference, which runs through Wednesday in Boston,” Politico continues.

“We didn’t feel [our members] wanted to hear the rallying call,” a spokeswoman for the SNA told Politico. “We felt it was best he not come.”

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