The following e-mail information was received from the USDA.
USDA published a proposed rule on January 13, 2011 to update the nutrition standards for meals served through the National School Lunch and Breakfast programs. The new proposed meal requirements will raise standards for the first time in fifteen years and will make critical changes to school meals and help improve the health and nutrition of nearly 32 million kids that participate in school meal programs every school day, an important component of First Lady Michelle Obama's Let's Move! Initiative to solve the challenge of childhood obesity within a generation.
The proposed changes to school meal standards, which would add more fruits, vegetables, whole grains, fat-free and low-fat milk to school meals, are based on recommendations released in October 2009 by the National Academies' Institute of Medicine (IOM) and presented in their report, School Meals: Building Blocks for Healthy Children. Schools would also be required to limit the levels of saturated fat, sodium, calories, and trans fats in meals.
I hope that reducing calories does not mean smaller portions. Many older students feel that are not getting enough on their tray as it is. And will ketchup count as a vegetable serving?
