USDA proposes changes to nutrition standards in school cafeterias

TAMPA, Fla. - The US Department of Agriculture has proposed new nutrition standards for school meals, targeting sugar and sodium. 

The federal agency sets the standards for what kids can get in their school cafeterias. The USDA is honing in on ingredients with the proposed changes, and their may be a lot of changes to cafeteria menus coming to school districts across the nation. 

Kids could be saying goodbye to foods like prepackaged muffins, yogurt and cereal. Chocolate milk will remain on the menu, though. 

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Pediatricians said it’s crucial for schools to provide healthy, balanced meals because for a lot of children across the country, the only hot meal they get is at school.

"I would say providing options that are maybe a little leaner," said Dr. Amber Stephens, a family medicine physician at Optumcare in Dunedin. "I don’t have a problem with providing pizza once in a while, but the main food item is usually like, chicken nuggets with french fries, and I get it, because those things are easy to make in big batches, they’re easy to distribute."

She said there needs to be less fried food options for kids. Dr. Stephens also said expanding beverage options could be helpful with that because most juices are loaded with sugar.

"The American Academy of Pediatrics has been very clear: They do not want children having more than eight ounces of juice a day," she said. "They’re counting that as a fruit on their plate, so they come, and they get breakfast in the morning, they’re getting juice with breakfast and then juice is an option for lunch." 

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The USDA said it plans to incrementally reduce weekly sodium limits over many years and bring on more whole grain products to school menus.           

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said the changes will be gradual, and the agency plans to work with small and rural school districts on these changes.