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School Meals

Committee on Nutrition Standards for National School Lunch and Breakfast Programs

Published: 2010-02-16

Total Pages: 395


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Ensuring that the food provided to children in schools is consistent with current dietary recommendations is an important national focus. Various laws and regulations govern the operation of school meal programs. In 1995, Nutrition Standards and Meal Requirements were put in place to ensure that all meals offered would be high in nutritional quality. School Meals reviews and provides recommendations to update the nutrition standard and the meal requirements for the National School Breakfast and Lunch Programs. The recommendations reflect new developments in nutrition science, increase the availability of key food groups in the school meal programs, and allow these programs to better meet the nutritional needs of children, foster healthy eating habits, and safeguard children's health. School Meals sets standards for menu planning that focus on food groups, calories, saturated fat, and sodium and that incorporate Dietary Guidelines for Americans and the Dietary Reference Intakes. This book will be used as a guide for school food authorities, food producers, policy leaders, state/local governments, and parents.
The National School Lunch Program (NSLP) is one of the largest food and nutrition assistance programs in the United States, feeding millions of children every day. During the 2006 school year, the program served 28 million lunches daily, on average, at a cost of $8 billion for the year. School meal providers face the task of serving nutritious and appealing school lunches, including free and reduced-price lunches for low-income students, and doing so under budget constraints. This book is intended as a briefing for policymakers and other stakeholders on the history and basic features of the program. It also addresses steps being taken by school food authorities and USDA's Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) in response to challenges faced by program administrators. One of the main goals on NSLP as identified by Congress is to promote the health and well-being of the Nation's children. In recent years, questions have been raised about the program's ability to meet this goal, especially as the main nutrition problem has shifted from under-nutrition to overweight and obesity. Public concern for the program has focused on whether it is contributing to the growing problem of childhood obesity and on the quality of foods available to schoolchildren. Issues at the Federal level include how to help school meal providers improve the nutritional quality of foods served, as well as how to balance program access and integrity.
As part of the School Meals Initiative, the US Department of Agriculture-Food and Nutrition Service requires each state to review the nutritional content of food served by each School Food Authority as part of the National School Lunch Program. This text contains the resultant data for 2002.