The Trump administration’s decision to delay and dilute rules calling for less sodium and more whole grains in school meals was overturned by a federal judge in Maryland, said the nonprofit legal organization Democracy Forward on Monday. “Our victory ensures that school lunches will be healthier for 30 million children,” said the group on social media.
The federal court for the southern district of Maryland ruled that the USDA had “unlawfully gutted science-based school nutrition standards and vacated its final rule,” Democracy Forward said. The group represented Center for Science in the Public Interest and Healthy School Food Maryland in the lawsuit.
In 2018, the USDA delayed the deadline for schools to comply with the second of three targets for reducing sodium in meals and eliminated the third target; it also halved the requirement that grain-based foods be whole-grain-rich, meaning that half of the grains must be whole grains.
The lawsuit said the USDA violated the law by rolling back the nutrition standards, failed to provide a reasoned explanation for the changes, and did not respond adequately to public comments that overwhelmingly supported the original regulations. The 2010 child nutrition law called on schools to serve more fruits, vegetables, whole grains and low-fat dairy and to cut back on salt, fat and sugar.
In his first week on the job, Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue issued a proclamation allowing 1 percent flavored milk – his favorite is chocolate milk – in schools and freezing the salt and whole-grain rules. “We’re just slowing down the process,” he said at the time. The USDA later wrote the regulations to stop progress on sodium and ease the requirement for whole grains.
As proof of its victory, Democracy Forward included a photo of District Judge George Hazel’s ruling with its announcement of the outcome. “The final rule is vacated and remanded to USDA for further proceedings consistent with this opinion,” wrote Hazel, who sits at the federal courthouse in Greenbelt, Maryland. Neither the plaintiffs nor the USDA were immediately available for comment.