Health News
- School Nutritionists' Lobbying Group, Freshly Funded By Grocery Makers, Wants More Funding And Flexibility With School-lunch Rules
School nutrition officials want more flexibility with new school lunch rules to cut down on the waste of unwanted food, Spencer Chase reports for Agri-Pulse, a Washington newsletter. Julia Bauscher, president of the School Nutrition Association,...
- Anderson Schools' Lunch Profit Is Down Nearly 10 Percent; Officials Blame New Federal Nutrition Standards; Students Object To Food
Anderson County school officials say new federal nutrition standards are costing them money and hurting poor students because the students don't like how the food tastes are opting out of school meals, Editor Ben Carlson reports for The Anderson...
- Scheduling Lunch After Recess, Very Unusual In Elementaries, May Lead To Less Food Waste And Better Nutrition, Study Says
Scheduling school lunch later in the day could help children to eat more nutritious foods and reduce food waste, according to a study at seven schools in Utah. Researchers found that children threw away more food when they ate lunch before recess instead...
- Proposed Waiver From School Nutrition Guidelines Sparks Debate
The controversial school lunch waiver debate that began in Washington has migrated to Kentucky. While supporters claim that the proposal assists rural schools, some opponents say it defeats the purpose of years of work to fight one of the U.S.'s highest...
- Some Parents Complain About Healthier School Lunches, But Usda Says It's On Course To Improve Public Health
A few school districts in other states are opting out of a federal-funded school lunch program that was touted by first lady Michelle Obama to provide healthier options to students, and some parents in Harlan County are complaining about the new...
Health News
USDA issues new school lunch rules; not as broad as first written, but will make meals healthier
The U.S. Department of Agriculture has released new, finalized requirements that will make school lunch a healthier meal for students.
The guidelines will mean:
? Students will be given both fruit and vegetables every school day.
? More foods will be made with whole grains.
? Students will be offered only fat-free or low-fat milk.
? Calories will be limited by portion size, based on the age of children being served.
? There will be less saturated fat and trans-fats in the food served.
? The amount of sodium will decrease gradually over the next 10 years.
Though the changes represent the first school-lunch overhaul in 15 years, they are not as comprehensive as the Obama administration initially wanted them to be. A bill passed late last year "would require the department to allow tomato paste on pizzas to be counted as a vegetable, as it is now," reports Mary Clare Jalonick of The Associated Press. "The initial draft of the department's guidelines, released a year ago, would have prevented that." Congress also kept USDA from limiting potatoes to two servings a week. Potato farmers and frozen-pizza companies lobbied hard against those proposals, some conservatives said the government shouldn't be telling children what to eat, and some school districts said the changes were too broad and too expensive.
Some of the changes will be incorporated by September, and others will be phased in. The changes affect lunches that are subsidized by the federal government in the National School Lunch Program, which serves 32 million children. Participation rates are very high in Kentucky. The Covington and Owsley County school districts have the highest percentage of students ? 88 percent ? eligible for free or reduced-price lunch. Magoffin County has the second highest with 86 percent followed by Newport (85 percent); Bell County (83 percent); and West Point Independent in Hardin County (81 percent). (Read more)
The changes are aimed in part at curbing childhood obesity. That has also been the target of measure to limit junk food in schools, which have been called into question. A recent study of almost 20,000 students found no link between junk food at school and weight gain in children. "The researchers examined the children's weight and found that in the eighth grade, 35.5 percent of kids in schools with junk food were overweight while 34.8 percent of those in schools without it were overweight ? a statistically insignificant increase," reports Benjamin Radford of Discovery News. (Read more)
- School Nutritionists' Lobbying Group, Freshly Funded By Grocery Makers, Wants More Funding And Flexibility With School-lunch Rules
School nutrition officials want more flexibility with new school lunch rules to cut down on the waste of unwanted food, Spencer Chase reports for Agri-Pulse, a Washington newsletter. Julia Bauscher, president of the School Nutrition Association,...
- Anderson Schools' Lunch Profit Is Down Nearly 10 Percent; Officials Blame New Federal Nutrition Standards; Students Object To Food
Anderson County school officials say new federal nutrition standards are costing them money and hurting poor students because the students don't like how the food tastes are opting out of school meals, Editor Ben Carlson reports for The Anderson...
- Scheduling Lunch After Recess, Very Unusual In Elementaries, May Lead To Less Food Waste And Better Nutrition, Study Says
Scheduling school lunch later in the day could help children to eat more nutritious foods and reduce food waste, according to a study at seven schools in Utah. Researchers found that children threw away more food when they ate lunch before recess instead...
- Proposed Waiver From School Nutrition Guidelines Sparks Debate
The controversial school lunch waiver debate that began in Washington has migrated to Kentucky. While supporters claim that the proposal assists rural schools, some opponents say it defeats the purpose of years of work to fight one of the U.S.'s highest...
- Some Parents Complain About Healthier School Lunches, But Usda Says It's On Course To Improve Public Health
A few school districts in other states are opting out of a federal-funded school lunch program that was touted by first lady Michelle Obama to provide healthier options to students, and some parents in Harlan County are complaining about the new...