WASHINGTON, Jan. 2, 2014 – School lunch ladies have a bit
more room for creativity, after USDA announced
today it will make permanent what had been temporary guidelines for meals
served under the National School Lunch Program.
The original rules, developed under the 2010 Healthy
Hunger-Free Kids Act, had drawn criticism from schools, food providers,
state governments and lawmakers who complained it was difficult and costly to
keep children full throughout the day under USDA’s maximum grain and meat
allotments.
More flexible guidelines were issued in December 2012 and
today the USDA made them
permanent in a final rule. Those guidelines, introduced four months into the
law’s implementation, temporarily allowed school food providers to ignore
previous maximum limits on grains and meat portions while requiring them to
adhere to minimum limits.
In today’s final ruling, the agency said meals should remain
within recommendations for total calories: 550-650 calories for kindergarten
through grade five; 650-700 calories for grades six through eight; and 750-850 calories
for grades nine through 12.
"Earlier this school year, USDA made a commitment to
school nutrition professionals that we would make the meat and grain
flexibility permanent and provide needed stability for long-term planning,”
said Agriculture Undersecretary for Food, Nutrition and Consumer Services Kevin
Concannon. “We have delivered on that promise.”
Sen. Mark
Pryor, D-Ark., applauded the department for making “much-needed
administrative changes that will give our school districts the permanent
flexibility they need to keep our kids healthy and successful.” He said in a statement that the original
guidelines were too strict.
About 31.6 million children received lunch through the National
School Lunch Program in fiscal 2012.
This story was updated at 4:46 pm.
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