![]() ![]() “If it’s not delicious, kids aren’t going to eat it,” said Sam Kass, assistant White House chef. Cafeteria workers in Chicago Public Schools reported that kids were not eating the healthy meals, according to the Chicago Tribune. The Los Angeles Times reported in December that students trashed the untouched healthier meals and started a booming underground market for junk food. Some parts of the major revamp of school lunches have been rejected by students. ![]() A healthier meal under the new standards would have whole-wheat cheese pizza, baked sweet potato fries, raw grape tomatoes, low-fat ranch dip, applesauce and low-fat milk. The USDA offered a weekly sample lunch menu with before and after comparisons.īefore the new rules, a standard elementary school lunch menu might consist of cheese pizza, canned pineapple, tater tots and chocolate milk. “We want the food they get at school to be the same kind of food we would serve at our own kitchen tables.” “When we send our kids to school, we expect that they won’t be eating the kind of fatty, salty, sugary foods that we try to keep them from eating at home,” Obama said in a news release. “We can, within that, accommodate those recommendations received from Congress.”įood and beverages sold in vending machines will also have to meet nutritional standards.įirst lady Michelle Obama and USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack unveiled the standards Wednesday. “I’m confident we have a core healthy set of proposed diets for children,” he said. Kevin Concannon, the USDA under secretary for Food, Nutrition and Consumer Services, said he wasn’t concerned with the tomato paste controversy at this point. Health groups reacted to the rules mostly favorably, although a controversy erupted in November after Congress decided that two tablespoons of tomato sauce was good enough to categorize a slice of pizza as a vegetable. For kindergarteners to fifth-graders, meals must contain 550 to 650 calories, and for 9th- to 12th-graders, meals must have 450 to 600 calories.Ĭhildren will not be forced to take the vegetables and fruits onto their plates the standards require that the various food groups be offered. Under the new rules, school meals will have calorie minimums and maximums per meal based on the child’s age. Recent numbers show that about 17% of children in the United States are obese. ![]() The new nutrition standards are largely based on recommendations by the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies, as part of efforts to curb childhood obesity. These standards go into effect July 1 and will be phased in over a three-year period, according to the USDA. Schools must also offer more whole grains as well as fat-free or low-fat milk varieties. The meal programs, which feed about 32 million students in public and private schools, will have to reduce sodium, saturated fat and trans fats. School meals will have to offer fruits and vegetables to students every day under standards issued by the United States Department of Agriculture on Wednesday. ![]()
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