school lunches

Last week, the Senate unanimously passed the Whole Milk for Healthy Kids Act, clearing a major hurdle toward restoring whole and 2% milk options in school meal programs.

Groups like the National Milk Producers Federation and others applauded the Senate Ag Committee for supporting, by voice vote, the Whole Milk for Healthy Kids Act.  The bill’s markup is a critical first step in passing the bipartisan legislation, which has already been approved at the House committee level.   “...

Last week, school food service professionals from across Washington gathered in Prosser for a hands-on, educational event to learn about including local beef in the school cafeteria.  The March 31st-April 1st event, hosted by the Washington State Beef Commission brought together 19 school nutrition professionals and farm to school coordinators in hopes of deepening their understanding of beef’s po

More than a dozen years after higher-fat milk was stripped from school meals to slow obesity in American kids and boost their health, momentum is growing to put it back.  Federal lawmakers have revived bills that would allow whole and 2% milk to be served again in schools, in addition to the skim and low-fat milk mandated since 2012.   ...

USDA is ending two pandemic-era programs that provided more than $1 billion for schools and food banks to purchase food from local farmers and producers.  About $660 million of that went to schools and childcare centers to buy food for meals through the Local Foods for Schools program.  A separ...

Thanks to recent USDA funding, Washington State University’s School of Food Science and WSU Extension will teach food safety to those overseeing public school meals.  The half-million-dollar USDA Food and Nutrition Service award will bring select participants from across the country to the WSU Pullman campus for a week of immersive food science and safety training in the summers of 2025 and 2026. 

Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack emphasized USDA’s commitment to connecting local farmers and producers with schools nationwide that serve meals to about 30 million children every school day.  Vilsack, joining others across the country in celebrating National School Lunch Week and National Farm to School Month, pointed to the Department’s recent investment of $500 million for schools to purchase unprocess

The National Dairy Council was founded by America’s farm families and funded by the National Dairy Checkoff.  Katie Bambact, vice president of nutrition affairs for the National Dairy Council, says the NDC has championed child nutrition for over 100 years.  The Coun...

The USDA joined the Education Department and other education, parent, and school meal partner groups last week to celebrate new school meal options as the school year started.  The organizations held a virtual pep rally to celebrate the back-to-school season and thank the champions that educate and nourish our nation’s school children.   “Healt...

Earlier this week, the USDA announced new investments to provide healthy school meals to students.  The Department announced several actions to expand support and access to the school meal program including $50 million in grants to increase collaboration between schools, food producers and suppliers.   ...