The government is changing the school lunch game – upgrading the rules for serving our kids food. Under the new standards – which you’ll no doubt love – schools are essentially overseeing themselves, a spokesperson tells us, submitting their menus for approval.

Regardless, people are paying attention and under the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids act, the upgrades scheduled apply to:

 

 

Fruits
  The amounts offered are going to increase for lunch and doubled to one cup each day for breakfast. Fruits must be fresh, canned in fruit juice or water or light syrup, frozen without added sugar or dried (notice there are no sugar requirements on that one.)  

The fruit can be replaced by a vegetable but the first two cups served must be dark green, red, orange, or beans and peas. After that, they can be startchy.

 

Deadline: The 2012-13 school year for lunch and 2014-15 for breakfast.

 
Fats and Sodium
Saturated fat can’t make up more than 10 percent of the meal, which is the rule now, so that won’t change.Sodium won’t exceed the maximum USDA reccomendation.

Trans fats to be eliminated entirely.

 

 

 

Deadline: Saturated fat rule is in place now; sodium overloads will be finished in breakfast and lunches 2022-23 and trans fat rule will kick in for lunch, 2012-13 and breakfast 2013-14.  
Grains
  The ultimate goal is to elminate refined breads and replace them with whole grains – whole wheat flour, oatmeal, whole cornmeal and brown rice – but that won’t happen for a while. To be considered “whole grain,” the food must contain at least 51 percent whole grains and the remaining grain content must be enriched.

 

 

 

Deadline: At lunch, at least half of grains served will be whole by the next school year, 2012-13. For breakfast, that change will take place the following year (2013-14). The complete replacement of refined products is slated for both meals in the 2014-15 school year.
Meats
Schools have to offer a meat or meat alternate daily. That’s 2 oz for kids in grades 9-12 and 1 oz for younger students. Menu planners are “encouraged” to offer a variety of protein foods. Tofu is fine, so are beans, cheese, cold cuts and yogurt. 

 

 

 

 

 

Deadline:  The 2012-13 school year.
Milk
Flavors — such as chocolate — can be served only in fat-free milk. The other choice has to be milk with 1 percent fat. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Deadline: The 2012-13 school year for both breakfast and lunch.
Calories
On average, the weekly calories per meal will fall within the reccomended ranges for each age. 

 

 

Calories grades k-5 grades 6-8 grades 9-12
Lunch    550-650 600-700 750-850
Breakfast 350-500 400-550 450-600 

 

 

Deadline: For lunch the calorie counts will start in 2012-13 and for breakfast 2013-14

  
Vegetables
Vegetables have to be offered every day. And schools must offer over the week all varieties — dark green, orange, legumes. Startchy vegetables are limited to once weekly.

Schools can continue to use salad bars.

 

 

 

 

Deadline: 2012-13 school year for lunch.