Tell USDA You Want the Best Nutrition for Children, Measures to Ensure Quality, and Strategies that Protect Children’s Access to the Programs

The U.S. Department of Agriculture is planning major improvements to the quality of the food offered in school breakfast and lunch and it wants to hear from YOU. Through April 13, USDA will be accepting comments on its proposed rule, Nutrition Standards in the National School Lunch and School Breakfast Programs.  Follow this link to find out how to submit comments.

This is your opportunity to tell USDA that you support the need to revise the school meal standards, and that you have suggestions on ways to further strengthen the regulations by providing more flexibility and choice, while protecting children's access to the programs.

SUBMIT YOUR COMMENTS
Tell USDA that you support its efforts to provide the best nutrition for children – especially low-income children – by providing school meals that are:

• Consistent with the Dietary Guidelines by offering more fruits, vegetables, and whole grains, serving only fat-free and low-fat milk, and limiting sodium and saturated fat, and 
• In compliance with the new nutrition standards by improving enforcement efforts.

And tell USDA that you want to see children get the full value from the new healthier school meals in breakfast and in lunch by strengthening the proposed standards to:

• Increase flexibility and choice for students and schools; 
• Make compliance reports available on the web; and 
• Ensure cost-effectiveness and consistency with efforts by schools and other health, education and anti-hunger stakeholders to reach the largest possible number of students with the benefits of healthy school nutrition during breakfast and lunch. 

Tell USDA what you think!  Click here to find FRAC resources, including model letters, to help you submit your comments.

The proposed regulations are open to public comment through April 13, 2011.

WHAT'S IN THE RULE?

This proposed rule would increase the availability of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and fat-free and low-fat fluid milk in school meals; and reduce the levels of sodium and saturated fat in meals. Schools would also be required to stay within the appropriate calorie ranges for each of three age/grade groups, and require students to take a fruit or vegetable serving at each meal. USDA estimates that school lunch costs will increase initially by 6.8 cents per lunch - rising to a 15.1 cents increase in 2016; and breakfast costs will increase by 37.1 cents per breakfast - rising to a 51 cents increase in 2016.