Kids around the country are returning to school and many may soon begin to notice some small but significant changes to the offerings in their school cafeteria aimed at improving the health and nutrition of the nearly 30 million kids who eat meals at schools each day in the United States. The U.S.
Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced a series of changes for school meals earlier this year. Nutrition standards for school meals will be gradually updated to include less sugar and reduced sodium. The changes are based on the latest science-based recommendations from the Dietary Guidelines for Americans.
The changes will be implemented over the next three years. The biggest change will be that, for the first time, there will be limits on added sugars in school meals. Locally, nutritious meals have already become a priority as organizations like Sierra Harvest partner with local school districts including the Nevada City School District, Grass Valley School District and Nevada Union to create a scratch-cooked centralized kitchen.
Sierra Harvest and the Nevada City School District piloted the Foothills Fresh program to pilot scratched cooked school meals working with local farmers. Currently, schools nationwide only have to meet weekly calorie limits, regardless of the added sugars in the foods they serve, according to the USDA. Under the new standards, breakfast cereals served at schools will be limited to no more than six grams of added sugars per dry ounce; yogurt may have n.