Public schools would face their first-ever limit on sugar in the food they serve in their cafeterias as part of an Agriculture Department proposal for healthier meals. The USDA package called for a staggered phase-in of new standards on sugar, sodium, whole grains and flavored milk, but was criticized as costly and unworkable by school food directors.
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said the changes were part of an administration drive to reduce diet-related diseases. “Look, this is incredibly important and we know it works,” said Vilsack in announcing the package on Friday. “It’s a good day for America’s kids.”
The USDA would limit added sugars to less than 10 percent of the weekly calories in school breakfasts and lunch beginning in fall 2027, two years after limits take effect on high-sugar products such as yogurt, cereals and grain-based desserts. The proposal would bring school meals into line with the Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommendation to limit calories from added sugars to less than 10 percent of daily calories.
“By proposing to limit the amount of added sugars in school meals for the first time ever, the USDA is taking a major step toward helping children achieve a more nutritious diet and better health,” said the American Heart Association. “Added sugars are a significant source of excess calories, provide no nutritious value and may cause weight gain and increased risk of cardiovascular disease, diabetes and other chronic health conditions.”
A group speaking for school food directors said the USDA should stick with its current standards rather than implement “newly proposed rules that are unachievable for most schools nationwide” during the recovery from the pandemic. Nine out of 10 School Nutrition Association members said in a survey that they faced challenges in sourcing items that meet the salt, fat and whole-grain standards now in place.
“As schools nationwide contend with persistent supply chain, labor and financial challenges, school meal programs are struggling to successfully maintain current standards and need support, not additional, unrealistic requirements,” said SNA president Lori Adkins.
House Education chairwoman Virginia Foxx and Sen. John Boozman, the senior Republican on the Senate Agriculture Committee, were skeptical of the USDA package. “Claiming to be science-based doesn’t mean USDA can put unworkable standards in place that make it harder for local school personnel to feed kids,” they said in a statement.
The USDA package would incorporate the new limits on added sugars into the types of flavored milk offered by schools; require whole grain-rich items to constitute at least 80 percent of grains served each week, with the option of serving whole grain-rich items exclusively except for one day each week when enriched grains could be offered; and lower sodium content of meals incrementally. The new whole grains standard would take effect in fall 2024; the new milk standard in fall 2025 along with the first steps on sodium and added sugars; the 10 percent limit on added sugars in fall 2025, along with another reduction in sodium; and the final step down on sodium in fall 2029.
“These proposed evidence-based standards will make for a healthier school day,” said Luis Guardia of the anti-hunger Food Research and Action Center.
Congress repeatedly intervened to delay USDA implementation of the 2010 child nutrition law that called for more fruits, vegetables and whole grains and less salt and fat in school meals. Lawmakers have deadlocked over updating the 2010 law.
An average 14 million students eat breakfast and 30 million students eat lunch at 100,000 schools each day through the USDA’s school meals programs. Child nutrition programs, headlined by school lunch, cost more than $26 billion a year.
The USDA webpage for its school nutrition proposals is available here.
For a side-by-side comparison of current and proposed USDA standards, click here.
For a graphic showing the proposed timeline for the new nutrition standards, click here.