Heart group uses ‘Parks and Rec’ star in satirical video on school lunch regs

The American Heart Association (AHA) is using satire to fight back against special interest groups and GOP lawmakers over regulations that force schools to serve healthier lunches.

“Parks and Recreation” star Nick Offerman stars in the video AHA launched this week with Funny or Die of a fictional pepperoni pizza farm where taquitos grow on trees and fields produce “hot, moist sloppy joes all year round.”

{mosads}“What could be healthier than this?” Offerman asks in the two-minute video while he strolls through rows of pizza trees dressed in overalls and a straw hat. “Acres of pizza, kissed by the sun, stretching as far as the eye can see.”

In the video, a little girl asks for a taquito. She says “Ew” when offered an apple instead, then accepts a taquito from a laughing Offerman.

“You see, kids know what their bodies need,” he says.

The little girl takes a bite of the taquito and spits it out. “My teeth feel soft,” she says. Offerman turns to her and whispers, “Go away.”

AHA launched a petition last month to to keep first lady Michelle Obama’s school lunch regulations in place. The group says 95 percent of schools are already meeting the requirements of the Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act, and students are eating 16 percent more vegetables and 23 percent more fruit, all while getting less salt, fat and sugar.

But members of the School Nutrition Association say student participation in their school lunch programs have declined and more food is going to waste because of the provisions. Members say they are simply asking for sensible flexibility in whole grain rich and salt requirements, not to roll back the rules completely.