USDA Eases Sodium Restrictions for School Meal Programs
Thursday, May 4, 2017
  • Enacted in 2010, the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act (HHFKA) set rigid nutrition standards for schools and paved the way for the subsequent implementation of school meal rules that many in the industry argue have limited the flexibility of school foodservice providers, led to increased food waste in school cafeterias, and resulted in declining participation in the National School Lunch and Breakfast Programs. USDA’s Final Rule: Nutrition Standards in the National School Lunch and School Breakfast Programs, for example, imposes stringent sodium limits and whole grain and dairy requirements.  Recently, there have been increasing calls to scale back on these requirements.  For example, just last month (and as previously covered on this blog), U.S. Senator Pat Roberts (R-Kan.), Chairman of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry, sent a letter to the USDA urging regulatory relief from rigid school meal standards.

  • On May 1, 2017, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue announced that the USDA will provide greater flexibility in nutrition requirements for school meal programs in order to make food choices both healthful and appealing to students. Perdue signed a proclamation which begins the process of restoring local control of guidelines on whole grains, sodium, and milk. The specific flexibilities provided for under the proclamation include:

    • USDA will allow states to grant exemptions to schools experiencing hardship in serving 100 percent of grain products as whole-grain rich for school year 2017-2018.

    • For School Years 2017-2018 through 2020, schools will not be required to meet Sodium Target 2. Instead, schools that meet Sodium Target 1 will be considered compliant.

    • Perdue will direct USDA to begin the regulatory process for schools to serve 1 percent flavored milk through the school meals programs.

  • The granting of this regulatory relief is a win for industry, but is sure to be followed by at least some push back from public interest groups.  Margo Wootan, Director of Nutrition Policy for the Center for Science in the Public Interest, for example, described the Perdue’s May 1st announcement as “discouraging”, noting that “ninety percent of American kids eat too much sodium every day.” But given the data that the more stringent nutrition requirements led to increased food waste in school cafeterias and declining participation in the National School Lunch and Breakfast Program, it is clear that USDA will be moving towards increased flexibility when it comes to school meal program nutrition requirements, with the complete rolling back of the Obama-era school nutrition requirements a possibility.

 

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