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Subscribe to RSSUnder new USDA rules school lunches will become healthier. NBC's Rehema Ellis reports.
Millions of schoolchildren in the United States will see more fruit and vegetables and less fat on their lunch plates under new U.S. Department of Agriculture standards unveiled Wednesday aimed at improving child nutrition and reducing childhood obesity.
"Improving the quality of the school meals is a critical step in building a healthy future for our kids," said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack. "When it comes to our children, we must do everything possible to provide them the nutrition they need to be healthy, active and ready to face the future – today we take an important step towards that goal."
The changes mark the first overhaul of the school lunch program in more than 15 years and will affect the nearly 32 million children who eat at school. The new regulations will be phased in over the next three years, starting in the fall.
“We strongly support the regulations,” said Diane Pratt-Heavner, spokeswoman for the Maryland-based School Nutrition Association. “The new nutrition standards for school meals are great news for kids.”
Under the new regulations, schools will be required to offer fruits and vegetables every day, increase the amount of whole-grain foods and reduce the sodium and fats in the foods served. Schools will also be required to offer only fat-free or low-fat milk. In addition, the menus will pay attention to portion sizes to make sure children receive calories appropriate to their age, according to Kevin Concannon, USDA under secretary for food, nutrition and consumer services.
Read more: Trans fat ban proposed for Colorado schools
The new requirements are part of the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act signed into law last year by President Barack Obama and championed by the First Lady Michelle Obama as part of her Let's Move! campaign.
First lady Michelle Obama and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announce new nutrition standards for school meals. NBC's Erika Edwards reports.
"As parents, we try to prepare decent meals, limit how much junk food our kids eat, and ensure they have a reasonably balanced diet," said Michelle Obama. "And when we're putting in all that effort the last thing we want is for our hard work to be undone each day in the school cafeteria.
Read more: Blogger eats school lunch every day
Statistics show that about 17 percent of U.S. children and teenagers are obese, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
But whether the kids will choose to eat the new, healthier foods remains to be seen. The new menus won't entirely eliminate favorite food choices among kids, like pizza and french fries, but they will provide alternatives. For example, instead of cheese pizza, students will receive whole wheat cheese pizza. Rather than tater tots, students will get baked sweet potato fries.
"We know if it’s not delicious, kids aren’t going to eat it," said White House Chef Sam Kass. But he added that thousands of schools have already implemented many of the required changes and their chefs are making progress in designing appealing menus. "We're working very hard on that," he said.
Wendy Weyer, director of nutrition services for Seattle Public Schools, said her district is already complying with many of the new USDA standards, and taking other steps, such as having partnerships with local farmers and planting school gardens. "Seattle has been very progressive with changing the way we offer meals, offering fruits and vegetables every day, as well as whole grain-rich foods," she said.
Weyer said the biggest challenge will be reducing sodium content, "while keeping the meals palatable for our students."
Pratt-Heavner said parents will play an important role in supporting the new standards. ”We all have to work to get the kids to make these healthier choices,” she said. “Students are more apt to pick up a fruit or vegetable in the lunch line if they have been introduced to those foods at home.”
To support the changes, schools will receive another 6 cents per meal in federal funding, and the overall cost of implementing the new requirements is projected at $3.2 billion. To help minimize costs, schools will also have more flexibility in designing the school lunch line to reduce waste, Concannon said. Students, for example, will be allowed to pick and choose more items as they move through the line, rather than getting a plate served to them.
Weyer said the Seattle school district still needs to determine how far the additional money will go to cover the new requirements.
"It's not going to cover all the cost, but it's definitely going to help," Pratt-Heavner said.
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Leave a Comment:
To have healthy food--1st. use real whole grain breads, raw sugars, brown rice, fresh or frozen veggies, real fruits in pear juice not sugar. Wanna be healthy eat REAL FOOD not man made garbage!
So the fruits have to be canned to be good? What happened to real fruit, in its skin, just like it came off the tree? Forget the canned stuff. Fruit in pear juice ... just another name for processed junk with no vitamins and minerals left worth eating. Eat the real stuff. Crunchy apples, sweet/tart peaches, pears, apricots, oranges, tangelos, grapes, grapefruit.
Any politician interested in my family's health - worth my vote. Tell that to the mayor in Loma Linda California.
The government of the United States of America employs thousands to dictate what is served in my granddaughter's elementary school cafeteria? We have a county school board and state superintendent of education, all of whom are qualified to make these decisions!
Bloated government, nanny state!
school boards and superintendents are government employees as well. The USDA subsidizes you children's' school and has every reason to expect that money be well spent better.
You're right. Next they'll be sending in someone to wipe the little one's butts. The government is alread up ours.
No one makes the children eat the food served. If you don't want your child to eat food available to them at school you never had any say in producing or serving, make their lunch yourself and quit whining.
The only thing they're doing is balancing the menus by adding more nutritious options. They still serve hamburgers, french fries, and pizza, it's just they don't want kids to eat those things all the time and get complacent with unhealthy eating habits.
Newsflash people! Kids don't get fat because of what they are eating at school. They get fat because their pathetic parents allow them to eat (and do) whatever the hell they want all the time. Wake up people! Any moron can reproduce - look around, it's painfully obvious. Take responsibilty and at least act like a parent before the government "absolves" you of all your responsibilities.
Newsflash sty, Children spend 8 hours of their day in school and are being fed junk there as well.
They get fat because all they do is sit at their computers.
Good point raddave... let's go there. Eight hours a day at an average of 185 school days per year. Do a little math and come up with the fact that the average child will spend somewhere around 16.9 percent of their time at public school. That would tell us that they have the other 83.1 percent of their time available to spend with their parents. If you, as a parent, cannot teach them better or (at a very minumum) counteract what is being "done/feed" to them (as if they have no other choice) by the public school system, then you are a worthless parent. All the government intervention in the world won't be able to help you raise a healthy child. But take heart, at least you've got random chance and dumb luck on your side.
stybun. I have two children and neither one of them are fat, because we started them out as babies feeding them properly. I don't want them to go to school and be forced to eat crap, because it is the only thing available.
@ raddave - I agree with most of what you say; maybe not your style in saying it, but your content - so I really hate to be the grammar police, but I have to say this. It's "neither one of them" IS "fat" not ARE. "Neither" is singular, requiring the singular form of the verb IS, not the plural ARE, and "neither" is the subject.
More Big Brother. What ever happened to choice?
Yes, whatever happened to the days of yore when our school cafeterias cooked whatever little animals the children found, killed and brought back from the playground? Oh those were the days!
You have no idea what the term "Big brother" means
oo my GOD whay will the republicans have to say about this......
What is the next mandate....bathroom habits....too much government is already a bad thing people
Mine usually takes her lunch but she can probably make a few bucks selling some good food at school. Thanks Obuma.
The first Lady says that Parents do a good job at home making sure their children eat healthy and don't want to see it get ruined by the meals they are served at school. If this is the case, why don't we stop serving meals at school. Think of all the additional expense the schools systems would save. No food cost, no cafeteria payroll, benefits and retirement. No need for kitchens, could convert to extra classrooms. Let the parents who do a good job continue to do a good job by packing their lunches. Take all the savings from these expenses and hire quality teachers. But evidently it's more important to preserve union jobs and have government dictate what kids eat than it is to provide a better education.
What about the children who are on reduced and free meals at the school? Those parents do not have the money to send them with lunch, those kids eat breakfast and lunch at school. Unfortunately that is probably the only time they are eating.
What we should all be pissed about is that law from 2009, SHAPE program that will be implemented in the schools requiring OUR children to stand on a scale twice a year and get their BMI recorded as well. Guess where the information gets forwarded to? You got it, the government.
Another problem with her assertion that parents are responsible is the fact that some kids (at least the kids I worked with at an elementary school last year) get their only food from the school. We had a salad bar setup where the kids were allowed to go back as many times as they wanted to for things like salad, fruit, graham crackers, etc. The same students, every single day, would go back to the salad bar 3 times. And these kids were definitety not obese.
I asked one kid why he ate so much and he said it was going to be his last meal until breakfast the next morning. I can't even imagine what this kid did on the weekends. Some parents aren't feeding their kids at all! I guess that's a great way to solve the obesity problem.
As a freshman in HS, I can say that I for one do not eat school food. Most of it is plain disgusting, so I just pack a few granola bars and get through the day. Really though, all the healthy foods they want to serve are even more gross and most kids just won't buy school food. 2 bucks for sweet potato fries and whole wheat pizza? Pass.
It ain't the food my friends, another 3.2 BILLION, where is that coming from when America is broke and the Failed President is spending us into bankruptcy. The kids need exercise not special food paid by the tax payer, this crap is ridiculous. Most Americans cannot wait until the Failed President and his beastly family go out the back door of the White House in shame after the 2012 elections.
WHAT?? You mean that Newt and the baggers aren't even willing to serve the children gruel when they repeal the child laobor laws?? That's even worse than a Dickens novel!!! What kind of immoral creatures are you people????
What Seattle doesn't say is that they took the junk food out of vending machines. Sounds good. Right? Until they found out they were losing 200K per year. Health didn't matter so much then.
And let's not forget to put up the posters of Ronald McDonald wielding a bloody butcher knife and saying "I'm comming after YOU!" Diet is only a part of a much larger problem as far as health. We're harrassing them about their diet, now ho about their (lack of) exercise? And, by the way, any chance of that 19-year-old in my son's 9th grade English class ever graduating? Forget that, is he ever going to be able to READ?
Paul
As our country is getting turned into a 3rd world nation, education is not that important anymore. What will be needed is good body fitness to do all the manual labor these kids will be doing to survive.
Now we know why Congress has been debating if Pizza should be defined as a veggie. Millions is to be made if its redefined as a veggie. Don't you just love lobbyists?
Then I wonder if congress debating whether or not it should lift the ban on horse meat for human consumption has anything to do with these new mandates as horse meat is a lot learner than beef, or so I've been told.
Yep...pizza is considered a vegetable in schools because of the tomato sauce. Ridiculous!
Just because you serve it doesn't mean the kids are going to eat it. How much is just going to get thrown out because the kids will wait until they get home to pig out on junk food?
Although the idea of feeding our kids healthy food is admirable, unfortunately they won't accomplish that through these new regs. The problem isn't the fat and sodium, or even the calories as the article suggests
"increase the amount of whole-grain foods and reduce the sodium and fats in the foods served. Schools will also be required to offer only fat-free or low-fat milk."
Its the carbs and sugars that they are served that is the cause of this epidemic we are in. Vegetables and fruits yes...whole grains and reduced fat free milk a big fat NO. The government has been pushing this low fat diet for over 30 years and telling us that we need to eat less calories and exercise more. And where has that gotten us and our children. Higher levels of obesity, Type II diabetes, heart conditions..etc. They've just gone too far down the path of this lie to turn back now.
If you want your kids to be healthy and lean, get rid of the breads, cereals, pastas, starchy vegatables (potatos, corn, etc. ), and sugars (candy, soda, etc.).
Go read about insulin resistance and the metabolic Syndrome. Bottom line, eat meats, vegatables, and fruits and you will be healthy. Eat bread, pasta, and whole grains and you will not.
EXACTLY! The biggest problem is misinformation. How many years did the government tell us to eat 5-11 servings of bread, grains, and pasta to the benefit of the agricultural industry? The food pyramid (introduced in 1992) was created by a congressional committee! But look what happened...obesity took off at alarming rates.
In 1990, among states participating in the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, 10 states had a prevalence of obesity less than 10% and no states had prevalence equal to or greater than 15%.
In 2006, only four states had a prevalence of obesity less than 20%. Twenty-two states had a prevalence equal or greater than 25%; Two of these states (Mississippi and West Virginia) had a prevalence of obesity equal to or greater than 30%. (BRFSS, Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, http: //www.cdc.gov/brfss/)
You are 100% correct, Jake. Fat itself is not bad. The fat in our bodies does not result from eating fat. It results from eating carbohydrates and how insulin processes those carbohydrates. I really wish more people knew this.
Yeah, but are those healthy foods GMO products???
yeah, socialism Government sucks, thank God my kids take their lunch!!
As long as it's just an alternate choice. I never liked fruits and vegetables. Yuck!
THERE IS THE ANGRY BLACK WOMAN.
She's all about being black; that's all she's about.
But she is the First Lady of an entire nation--only 13% of whom are black.
The rest of us need not apply for her consideration; only blacks need apply; because Michelle Obama is the ANGRY BLACK WOMAN and she will shove that down our throats. She is getting her reparations no matter what.
And she's taking taxpayer money to the tune of $10 Million last year for her own personal reparations in Spain, in Hawaii, in South Africa, in those lavish resorts, and on extravaganzas with her friends and family. She doesn't care really about all those black women out there; she cares about her own personal reparations!
I find this woman crass and craven, not inspiring in the least. She may well be a great mother, she probably is; she's just a horrible First Lady.
I do have some sympathy for her, though; being married to a Narcissist isn't easy; and Barack is the classic Narcissist.
I could not agree with you more!!!
Re-election = Declaration of War
One can always tell when the President of the United States gives a great speach...all the wack-o KKK loving teabaggers come out from under their shacks...
Declaration of war?? This is an article about trying to provide healthier food for children and "paul" is ready to declare war??? We have civilized elections decided by majority vote in the United States. If you hate that system so much, move to Iran. Staying here and "sharing" your opinions is only making you look desperate and dumb.
Declaring war over school lunches. Idiots.
Paul, you lost the last war. Is it time for another whupping?
Just cause u regulate what schools can serve doesnt mean it is gonna help any. The problem with kids being fat is parents letting them sit inside all day and play video games.
Obamanation at his best
Once more here we have the Feds sticking their noses where they DO NOT BELONG!! School lunches SHOULD BE LEFT TO WE THE PEOPLE, NOT OBAMA and his COMMUNIST ADMINISTRATION or his Marxist-Socialist ideology. Obama, keep your f*cking brain washed ideology OUT OF OUR LIVES!! Obama sees each day of his term that he just creates more and more unnecessary, costly and wasteful government intervention. This SICK SOB needs to go and he needs to go this November!!!
Crying about good sensible solutions, HOW PATHETIC.
Not crying....I just hate to see good money wasted on stupid useless government programs. You cannot make a kid eat what he or she does not want. Simple as that. Or is that too easy for a left wing nut job like yourself to understand??
B.S. Tomkat, you can "train" your children to eat almost anything, if you start at an early age. BTW, Communism and Socialism are not synonymous.
I came from a poor family and we didn't have school lunch. I got a jelly sandwich every day, sometimes with ants in it, and a drink of water at a fountain. I am now 62 and healthier than most, despite my dietery foundations. Sad to say, but it's mostly very clean living relatives of mine who got the big C. I think I'll stick to my present diet which is not entirely healthy.
Jersey, Cancer is mostly genetic.
Double post sorry
I bet when you were a kid that ingredients for store bought bread were not even comparable to what they are today and if your mother made it then likely it was very nutritious...same for the jelly. You think your diet is unhealthy? Read up on common ingredients in foods these days and be prepared to be shocked. :)