Improving Nutrition Standards in the National School Lunch and School Breakfast Programs - Final Rule

Submitted by admin on Mon, 09/19/2011 - 3:33pm

The Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010 directed the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to set new nutrition standards for all food served in schools. Drawing on recommendations from the Institute of Medicine, the 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans, and 132,000 public comments to the proposed standards, USDA’s Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) released its final standards in January 2012. They are the first update to the nutrition requirements in over fifteen years and will impact 43 million children – 32 million in the school lunch program and 11 million in the breakfast program.

The standards require schools to:

Establish maximum calories for meals and appropriate portion sizes for various age groups
Increase the availability of fruits, vegetables, whole grain-rich foods, and fat-free and low-fat milk
Reduce saturate fat, trans fats, and sodium

The rules will be phased in over three years beginning in July 2012.

Those portions of the proposal relating to grains are summarized below.

A serving of grains must now be offered daily at both breakfast and lunch and at least half of these must be whole-grain rich by July 1, 2013. After July 1, 2014 all grains must be whole-grain rich.
After July 1, 2014, all grains offered to students must contain at least 51% whole grains with the remaining grain content enriched. Until the whole grain content of food products is required on a product label by the Food and Drug Administration, schools must evaluate a grain product according to forthcoming FNS guidance.
The guidance states that the serving of the food item must meet portion size requirements for the grains/bread component outlined by the FNS and at least one of the following: (a) the whole grain per serving must be equal to or greater than 8 grams; (b) the product includes the following FDA-approved whole grain health claim on its packaging, “Diets rich in whole grain foods and other plant foods and low in total fat, saturated fat and cholesterol may reduce the risk of heart disease and some cancers”; or (c) product ingredient listing lists whole grain first, specifically non-mixed dishes like bread or cereal and mixed dishes such as pizza or corn dogs.

Helpful links:

U.S. Department of Agriculture, Food and Nutrition Service

Website home page for this topic
http://www.fns.usda.gov/cnd/

News release, January 2012 Announcing Publication of the Standards
http://www.fns.usda.gov/cga/PressReleases/2012/0023.htm

Final Rule in the Federal Register

Your attention is particularly directed to:

Requirement for grains – page 4093

New meal patterns – page 4102

Implementation Timeline – page 4103

Chart of New Meal Patterns

Implementation Timeline

Comparison of Current and New Requirements

Sample Weekly Menu Before & After the New Standards