The U.S. Department of Agriculture recently announced major steps to improve the health of America’s children through school meals.
Nutritional standards for school meals will be updated in stages from fall 2025 to fall 2027, including reducing sugar and increasing flexibility in menu planning. USDA arrived at these changes after listening carefully to public input and considering the latest science-based recommendations from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Dietary guidelines for Americans.
K-12 schools serve nutritious breakfasts and lunches to nearly 30 million children every day. These meals are the main source of nutrition for more than half of these children and help promote their health.
“We all share the goal of helping children reach their full potential,” said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack. “Like teachers, classrooms, books, and computers, nutritious school meals are an essential part of the school environment, and by raising standards for school meals, children will be more successful in and out of the classroom. I can.”
The final rule is an important step toward advancing the nation’s strategy to end hunger and reduce diet-related diseases by 2030, set forth by the White House Council on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health in September 2022. becomes.
Key updates to nutrition standards to support healthy children include:
add sugar
- Added sugar will be restricted for the first time in school meals across the country, with small changes expected to be made by autumn 2025 and fully implemented by autumn 2027. The Department of Agriculture has heard and taken into account concerns from parents and teachers about excessive amounts of added sugar in some foods. new limits. Research shows that these added sugars are most commonly found on typical school breakfast menus. Child care providers also plan to start limiting added sugar in cereals and yogurts, rather than total sugar, by fall 2025.
milk
- Schools can continue to offer flavored and unflavored milk that provides essential nutrients that children need, such as calcium, vitamin D, and potassium. By fall 2025, there will be new limits on added sugars in flavored milk served at breakfast and lunch. Thirty-seven school milk processing companies, which account for more than 90 percent of the nation’s school milk volume, are already committed to providing nutritious school milk options. Meeting this limit for added sugars.
sodium
- Schools will need to slightly reduce the sodium content of their meals by fall 2027. In response to public comments, the USDA is calling for only one salt reduction, rather than the three phased reductions proposed last year. This change still points children in the right direction and gives schools and industry the lead time they need to prepare. The sodium limits in this final rule will be familiar to schools, as they were supported by key school nutrition stakeholders and industry stakeholders during previous rulemaking activities in 2017 and 2018.
whole grain
- Current nutritional standards for whole grains remain unchanged. Schools will continue to offer students a variety of nutritious whole grains, but they also have the option of offering several nutritious grains to suit students’ cultural and taste preferences.
Support other food preferences
- While not a new requirement, starting in fall 2024, schools will be able to make it easier to serve protein-rich breakfast foods such as yogurt, tofu, eggs, nuts, and seeds. Other food preferences.
Supporting the purchase of local ingredients
- Also, starting in fall 2024, schools will have the option to require raw produce to be locally grown, raised, or harvested when purchasing school lunch programs, making it easier for schools to buy local food. In addition, beginning in fall 2025, limits will be placed on the percentage of non-domestically grown food that schools can purchase, which will increase the number of U.S. farmers, producers, fishermen, and ranchers in providing nutritious food to schools. role will be strengthened.
For more information on how school meals can be enhanced, please see the following resources:
Those that do not change
School lunches will continue to emphasize fruits and vegetables. Whole grains. It provides children with the right balance of many nutrients for a healthy and delicious diet. School nutrition specialists are local experts in the region who continue to provide students with the meals they want to eat, while prioritizing cultural and religious food preferences.
School districts are empowered to meet the latest standards.
The USDA’s announcement comes weeks after the Spring 2024 Healthy Eating Summit in St. Louis, Missouri. The summit brought together hundreds of school nutrition experts to celebrate and share innovative efforts to improve the nutritional quality of school meals. As part of USDA’s Healthy Meals Incentive Initiative, 264 small and rural school districts each received up to $150,000 to provide resources to improve food service operations and meet the latest nutrition standards.
The initiative also supports innovation in the school food market by strengthening collaboration between schools, food producers, suppliers, and other partners through the School Food System Transformation Challenge Grant.
Additional background on school nutrition standards
By law, USDA is required to set standards for food and beverages served through school lunch programs that align with the goals of the Dietary Guidelines for Americans. Each school develops meals that fit within these standards and reflect the tastes and preferences of the students they serve.
The Department proposed updates to the standards in February 2023 and received significant feedback during a 90-day public comment period, totaling more than 136,000 public comments. These comments were considered in the development of the final nutritional standard. Leading up to the proposed standard, USDA held more than 50 hearing sessions with state agencies, school districts, advocacy groups, tribal officials, professional associations, food manufacturers, and other federal agencies.
To learn about other ways USDA is investing in school lunch programs, visit our School Support webpage.
