New Standards for School Meals

On Wednesday, January 25th 2012 the First Lady Michelle Obama and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced the United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) new and improved nutrition standards for school meals, the first major changes in 15 years.

The new standards for school meals will increase access to healthier meals for 32 million kids that participate in school meal programs every school day.

Changes to the school meal standards include:

• Fruits and vegetables offered every day of the week

• substantially increase 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.

Key changes will be largely phased in over a three-year period, starting in School Year 2012-2013.

Please check our Child Nutrition Policy page regularly for updates regarding the new standards for school meals.