USDA unveils new standards for school meals

First Lady Michelle Obama and U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack have unveiled new standards for school meals with the goal of making meals healthier for kids across the nation. The new meal requirements will raise standards for the first time in more than 15 years. The healthier meal requirements are a key component of the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act, which was championed by the First Lady as part of her Let's Move! campaign and signed into law by President Obama.

The final standards include:

• Ensuring students are offered both fruits and vegetables every day of the week;
• Substantially increasing offerings of whole grain-rich foods;
• Offering only fat-free or low-fat milk varieties;
• Limiting calories based on the age of children being served to ensure proper portion size; and
• Increasing the focus on reducing the amounts of saturated fat, trans fats, and sodium.

The USDA built the new rule around recommendations from a panel of experts convened by the Institute of Medicine. The standards were also updated with key changes from the 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans and aimed to foster the kind of healthy changes at school that many parents are already trying to encourage at home.

Full Press Release

A sample lunch menu with a before and after comparison is available below in jpeg format.

(Click on the image to enlarge)