January 27/Washington/USDA -- The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) has released new nutritional standards for school meals, a means to help ensure the nation’s schoolchildren have access to lunches and breakfasts that meet federal dietary guidance for good nutrition. The standards will encourage students to meet federal recommendations for dairy consumption by requiring that either fat-free flavored milk or low-fat or fat-free white milk be offered with each school meal.
“On average, by the time they are four years old, children fall below the Dietary Guidelines for Americans’ recommended dairy intake. By requiring that schools offer low-fat or fat-free milk with every meal, these standards can help children come closer to meeting their nutrient needs,” said Jean H. Ragalie, R.D., president of National Dairy Council. “Building nutrient-rich school meals is an important step toward helping students develop healthy eating patterns at an early age, and we commend the USDA for making important updates to school nutrition standards at a time when providing children access to proper nutrition has never been more important.”