Schools not dropping salt from meals
The U.S. Department of Agriculture pushes back requirements for lower sodium levels and fewer whole grains in school meals.
Nutrition directors for both Rome and Floyd County school systems welcome the recent move by President Donald Trump’s Agriculture Department to delay steep cuts in sodium levels in school lunches.
Under requirements put in place under former president Barack Obama’s administration, elementary schools would have had to lower sodium in meals to 935 mg from 1,230 mg, starting next school year. But as part of the changes announced by Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue on May 1, schools will only have to have less than 1,230 mg of sodium, a change put in place in 2014, until at least 2020, when sodium levels would be lowered to the 935 mg mark.
“I totally agree with putting the (brakes) on this sodium requirement,” said Brandy Money, the director of nutrition for Rome City Schools, in an email. “This was such a tremendous drop it would put many constraints on our vendors and cause our prices to rise drastically.”
Donna Carver, nutrition director for Floyd County Schools, said in an email that products like milk and cheese naturally have sodium, so “meeting the 935 mg level was going to be extremely difficult while producing foods that the students would find appealing.
“This delay is a good thing for participation and acceptability.”
The move by the Agriculture Department partially rolls back rules championed by former first lady Michelle Obama as part of her healthy eating initiative. Those rules, Money said, “are not too stringent at the present time, but they were heading in that direction.”
But the health advocates who have championed the rules are concerned about the freeze in sodium levels.
“By forgoing the next phase of sodium reduction, the Trump administration will be locking in dangerously high sodium levels in school lunch,” said Margo Wootan, a lobbyist for the Center for Science in the Public Interest.
Whole grains
Perdue’s action also continues the allowance of waivers for regulations that all grains on the lunch line must be 50 percent whole grain. Schools could also serve 1 percent flavored milk instead of the nonfat now required.
Perdue, a former governor of
Georgia, said some schools in the South have had problems with grits, because “the whole grain variety has little black flakes in it” and kids won’t eat it.
“The school is compliant with the whole-grain requirements, but no one is eating the grits,” he said. “That doesn’t make any sense.”
According to Carver, Floyd County Schools did get a waiver for certain foods a couple of years ago, and the system began serving enriched items “that our students demand, primarily biscuits.
“We were unable to find any acceptable whole grain biscuits,” she said. “Southern students know what they like.”
And keeping the option for waivers in place “is good news,” Carver said, “as Sausage Biscuit Wednesday is our biggest participation day at breakfast.”
But the school system did begin putting more whole grain items on the menu — more than 50 to 80 percent of food items were whole grain — before the regulations took effect, Carver said, “because that was a healthy choice that was good for students.”
Rome City Schools hasn’t done a whole grain waiver; rather the system “changed everything over before it was required,” Money said. And in making this change, along with meeting the other regulations, participation in school meals has increased, she added.
Finding a balance
“If kids aren’t eating the food, and it’s ending up in the trash, they aren’t getting any nutrition — thus undermining the intent of the program,” said Perdue, who traveled to a school in Leesburg, Virginia, to make the announcement.
Participation in the Floyd County school system is at 82 percent for lunch and 43 percent for breakfast — both above state and national averages — Carver said. It’s about striking a balance between meeting federal regulations and offering meals students will eat, she added.
“If a recipe or food item does not perform well, we remove it from the menu and bring in something that will get our students excited about lunch and breakfast,” Carver continued.
The school meal changes reflect suggestions from the School Nutrition Association, which represents school nutrition directors and companies that sell food to schools. The group often battled with the Obama administration, which phased in the healthier school meal rules starting in 2012.
The Obama administration rules set fat, sugar and sodium limits on foods in the lunch line and beyond. Schools have long been required to follow government nutrition rules if they accept federal reimbursements for free and reduced-price meals for low-income students, but these standards were stricter. Michelle Obama pushed the changes as part of her “Let’s Move” campaign to combat childhood obesity.
“It is never a bad idea to make better food choices. Looking back, just as with anything else, vision is clearer to see where decisions might go differently if time were to allow another opportunity,” Carver said.
Tossing out food
The Trump administration changes leave most of the Obama administration’s school meal rules in place, including
Donna Carver Nutrition director for Floyd County Schools
requirements that students must take fruits and vegetables on the lunch line. Some schools have asked for changes to that policy, saying students often throw them away. But “that’s nothing new,” Money said.
“There has always been food going into trash cans,” she said. “Most students like fruit, so taking the serving of fruit if they prefer it to the vegetables offered that day, it is OK within the USDA guidelines that we have right now.”
Students must get a half-cup serving of either a fruit or vegetable with each school meal, Money said, giving them the option to choose between “2-3 vegetables a day and 2-3 different fruits a day.”
Carver said, “Wasting food is never a good idea, but somewhere there is a balance that is good, overall, for our students.
“Fresh farm to school fruits and vegetables are great choices for our students. Often we can get students to step outside of their comfort zone and try new things.”
Michelle Obama responds
Michelle Obama on Friday criticized the decision to delay federal rules aimed at making school lunch healthier, saying kids will end up “eating crap” instead.
She told a health conference in Washington that more nutritionally sound school meals are needed since millions of kids nationwide eat federally subsidized breakfast and lunch at school. Without mentioning Trump by name, she urged parents to think about the government’s recent decision and to “look at motives.”
“You have to stop and think, ‘Why don’t you want our kids to have good food at school? What is wrong with you and why is that a partisan issue?” Michelle Obama said. “Why would that be political?”
Michelle Obama said it’s time for adults to take charge and not put kids in charge.
“How about we stop asking kids how they feel about their food because kids, my kids included, if they could eat pizza and French fries every day with ice cream on top and a soda they would think they were happy, until they get sick,” she said.
But Money said perhaps students are beginning to take charge.
“I believe their tastes are more developed than past generations, and they don’t necessarily want all the sodium in their food in regards to the taste or for their health,” she said.
‘If a recipe or food item does not perform well, we remove it from the menu and bring in something that will get our students excited about lunch and breakfast.’