Kraft Heinz has announced it is removing its Lunchables meal kits from the National School Lunch Program. With eight $1 billion+ brands, Kraft Heinz is North America’s third-largest food and beverage company and the fifth-largest in the world. The National School Lunch Program (NSLP) is America’s second-largest food and nutrition assistance program, providing billions of meals to millions of children and adolescents annually.
The move comes after tests conducted by Consumer Reports found that Lunchables and similar lunch kits contained relatively high levels of sodium, lead, and cadmium, and demand for the meal kits fell below the company’s expected targets. In September, Consumer Reports and More Perfect Union renewed its call for the Department of Agriculture to remove Lunchables from the school lunch program by delivering nearly 50,000 petition signatures to the agency. “Lunchables and other lunch kits with concerning levels of sodium and harmful chemicals have no place on the school lunch menu,” said Brian Ronholm, food policy director at Consumer Reports.
“We’re pleased that Heinz Kraft has pulled Lunchables from the school lunch program after lower-than-expected demand from school districts nationwide. The USDA should maintain stricter eligibility standards for the school lunch programs so that the millions of kids that depend on it get the healthier options they deserve.” Earlier this year, CR issued a report comparing the nutritional profiles of two Lu.
