New rules would limit sugar in school meals for first time

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New rules would limit sugar in school meals for first time

FILE - Second-grade students select their meals during lunch break in the cafeteria at an elementary school in Scottsdale, Ariz., Dec. 12, 2022. On Friday, Feb. 3, 2023, U.S. agriculture officials proposed new nutrition standards for school meals, including the first-ever limits on added sugars, with a focus on sweetened foods such as cereals, yogurt, flavored milk and breakfast pastries. (AP Photo/Alberto Mariani, File)

U.S. agriculture officials on Friday proposed new nutrition standards for school meals , including the first limits on added sugars, with a focus on sweetened foods such as cereals, yogurt, flavored milk and breakfast pastries.

The plan announced by Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack also seeks to significantly decrease sodium in the meals served to the nation’s schoolkids by 2029, while making the rules for foods made with whole grains more flexible.

The goal is to improve nutrition and align with U.S. dietary guidelines in the program that serves breakfast to more than 15 million children and lunch to nearly 30 million children every day, Vilsack said.

“School meals happen to be the meals with the highest nutritional value of any meal that children can get outside the home,” Vilsack said in an interview.

The first limits on added sugars would be required in the 2025-2026 school year, starting with high-sugar foods such as sweetened cereals, yogurts and flavored milks.

Under the plan, for instance, an 8-ounce container of chocolate milk could contain no more than 10 grams of sugar. Some popular flavored milks now contain twice that amount. The plan also limits sugary grain desserts, such as muffins or doughnuts, to no more than twice a week at breakfast.

By the fall of 2027, added sugars in school meals would be limited to less than 10% of the total calories per week for breakfasts and lunches.

The proposal also would reduce sodium in school meals by 30% by the fall of 2029. They would gradually be reduced to align with federal guidelines, which recommend Americans aged 14 and older limit sodium to about 2,300 milligrams a day, with less for younger children.

Levels would drop, for instance, from an average of about 1,280 milligrams of sodium allowed now per lunch for kids in grades 9 to 12 to about 935 milligrams. For comparison, a typical turkey sandwich with mustard and cheese might contain 1,500 milligrams of sodium.

Health experts say cutting back on sugar and salt can help decrease the risk of disease in kids, including obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure and other problems that often continue into adulthood.

The plan, detailed in a 280-page document, drew mixed reactions. Katie Wilson, executive director of the Urban School Food Alliance, said the changes are “necessary to help America’s children lead healthier lives.”

But Diane Pratt-Heavner, spokeswoman for the School Nutrition Association, a trade group, said school meals are already healthier than they were a decade ago and that increased regulations are a burden, especially for small and rural school districts.

“School meal programs are at a breaking point,” she said. “These programs are simply not equipped to meet additional rules.”

Vilsack emphasized that the plan phases changes in over the next six years to allow schools and food manufacturers time to adjust to the new standards. He said in a press conference Friday that the USDA will also fund grants of up to $150,000 to help small and rural schools make the changes.

“Our hope is that many school districts and food providers accelerate the timeline on their own,” he said.

Courtney Gaine, president of the Sugar Association, said the proposal ignores the “many functional roles” sugar plays in food beyond sweetness and encourages the use of sugar substitutes, which have not been fully studied in children. Sugar substitutes are allowed under the new standards, Vilsack said.

As part of the plan, agriculture officials are seeking feedback about a proposal that would continue to require that 80% of all grains offered in a week must be whole grains. But it would allow schools to serve non-whole grain foods, such as white-flour tortillas, one day a week to vary their menus.

Another option suggests serving unflavored nonfat and lowfat milk to the youngest children and reserving chocolate and other flavored milks for high school kids.

A 60-day public comment period on the plan opens Feb. 7.

Shiriki Kumanyika, a community health expert at Drexel University’s Dornsife School of Public Health said if they’re done right some of the changes will be hard for kids to notice: “They’ll see things that they like to eat, but those foods will be healthier,” she said.

This story has been corrected to fix the spelling the president of the Sugar Association. It is Courtney Gaine, not Courtney Gaines.

AP Videojournalist Shelby Lum and AP Science Writer Maddie Burakoff contributed to this report.

The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Educational Media Group. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

bones222222 on February 3rd, 2023 at 18:40 UTC »

“Courtney Gaine, president of the Sugar Association, said the proposal ignores the “many functional roles” sugar plays in food beyond sweetness and encourages the use of sugar substitutes, which have not been fully studied in children.”

Thanks for weighing in, president of sugar

TwilightZone1751 on February 3rd, 2023 at 18:03 UTC »

As a lunch lady at an elementary school (15+years), I have to join this conversation. A large majority of school districts outsource their cafeteria service. Grades typically get 30 minutes for lunch & that includes waiting in line. Food service companies do not want to pay employees, stay at home moms/dads & seniors, a decent wage plus they don’t want you working longer than your scheduled time & be required to pay you more. Finding employees & having them stay is difficult unlike when I was in school we had the same lunch ladies from elementary until we graduated. Making food from scratch in a four hour or less day for hundreds or thousands of students is just not possible. Except for produce all other food is processed and frozen. We have a main entree which changes daily & then EVERY day kids have the options of pizza, chicken patty or burgers & French fries (considered a vegetable). A student MUST have a protein, vegetable, fruit, grain & a milk (or juice for lactose).

Besides what I mentioned we also offer DAILY for extra cost:

Ice cream Chips Flavored fizzy drinks (high school gets sodas) Cookies Pudding

Before the pandemic we also sold Slurpies/Slushies but the local distributor went out of business so we stopped. As you can imagine kids are tossing the fruit & veggies & loading up on the junk. Some parents put $100-$300 on their kids accounts just for them to purchase junk food. These are also the same parents who complained about Michelle Obama’s healthy lunches cause and how we stopped selling dinner rolls & used wheat bread. Because the district was losing money they went back to white bread & pizza crust.

Also what is funny is that we are not allowed to use sugar in cooking but selling sugary treats is fine. If you have the money & care about your children eating healthy then I would pack their lunch. If you have financial issues your child will get the regular lunch but none of the junk food, in case that was a concern.

SimplyTennessee on February 3rd, 2023 at 17:17 UTC »

I wonder if that includes sugar in ketchup.

ketchup is a vegetable