How Will the New USDA Guidelines Improve School Lunch?

And end to french fries in the school lunch line? Probably not, but a yesterday, the United States Department of Agriculture announced it will upgrade nutritional standards for the National School Lunch and Breakfast program, for the first time in 15 years.

The move is part of the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010, a large overhaul of the national school lunch program, signed into law earlier this year by President Obama. Instead of the high-fat, high-salt and starchy fare served in schools, the Act aims to get kids eating something that at least mirrors current nutritional standards. Recognizing the sorry state of school lunches and their contributor to childhood obesity, many health groups pushed for the new standards. On Change.org, a petition by the American Heart Association garnered over 15,000 signatures of support.

With the upgraded guidelines, kids can expect to see new items on their tray. For lunch, the greatest change is an increase in fruits and vegetables, to nearly four half-cup servings a week.  And while the vegetable requirement used to allow fried potatoes and other starchy items to count, they now have a weekly requirement for dark green veggies and legumes. They even added a new "red/orange vegetable subgroup."

In the old requirements, whole grains were merely encouraged, while now at least half of the grains have to meet that requirement. Fat-free and lowfat milk will be the norm, ousting whole milk.  Sodium and saturated fat levels will be reduced.

But that doesn't mean all is peachy-keen on the lunch line.

As nutritionist Marion Nestle notes on her Food Blog, there aren't strict limits on sugar, only that the "use of highly fortified sugary foods is discouraged." In addition, the new standards allow for flavored milk, despite its high sugar content. "Chocolate or strawberry milk is a dessert. Chalk this one up to dairy lobbying," she writes.

Chocolate milk  may not seem like a big deal -- didn't we all drink it as kids? -- but given that the USDA currently requires schools to offer milk with breakfast and lunch, and that most kids prefer flavored milk, that could mean a lot of sugar for those kids recieving both meals at school. In addition, government-sponsored breakfast can consist of flavored milk partnered with a sugary cereal. Some estimate that young kids consume the equivalent of 15 teaspoons of sugar before classes even start.

Not only does one serving of chocolate or strawberry milk contains almost the same amount of sugar as a cup of soda, it also exceeds the American Heart Association's daily limit of sugar for kids aged 4 to 8.

The fight over incorporating sugary milk in schools is happening nationwide, as evidenced by the recent actions in Florida, where the state's incoming agricultural commissioner moved to postpone a ban on flavored milks and other sweetened beverages. His department, as well as the USDA, serves the duel role of promoting agricultural products like milk and weighing in on nutritional standards.

The USDA has issued the new school lunch guidelines as a proposed rule and is seeking comments on ways to include dietary recommendations through April 13. To let the USDA know how you feel about sugary milk in school, leave a comment at  regulations.gov.

Photo credit: DC Central Kitchen