USDA Looking At Minor Changes To School Lunch Program

The USDA is rolling out new rules designed to help schools serve nutritious meals that students are less likely to trash.  Back in May 2017, Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue went to a Virginia school to announce some changes he wants to make in the strict nutritional standards for meals that local school food service people are having to follow.  Those standards have caused complaints from students about the taste of the meals...and food service people who are having trouble meeting the standards for the meals.

"We want to give them flexibility to not only make them nutritious, but palatable where the kids will want to come and enjoy a great school meal."

So USDA is issuing this month final rules to that end.

Old rule: no flavored milk unless it's skim.
New Rule: flavored low fat milk is ok.

Old Rule: half of grain products would have to be whole grain with it eventually all going to whole grain.
New Rule: Keep whole grains at 50% .

Old Rule: A fast track reduction in sodium content.
New Rule: More time for schools to reduce sodium.

Perdue said this is not a reverse of nutritional standards.

"The meal they get and the nutrition capacity of that is gonna be just as great and we hope it will be even more palatable," Perdue noted.

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