Study: School meals improve under post-2010 standards
The nutritional quality of school meals served in the National School Lunch Program and the School Breakfast Program has improved significantly, and concentrations of refined grains, empty calories, and sodium have decreased since 2012, when changes under the 2010 Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act were imposed, according to a study posted on the Agriculture Department Food and Nutrition Service website Tuesday.
This report presents findings from the School Nutrition and Meal Cost Study, the first comprehensive, nationally representative study of the school meal programs since these program reforms were implemented. The posting of the study was reported today by the Food and Environment Reporting Network.
The changes were championed by then-First Lady Michelle Obama and have been the subject of controversy. The Trump administration has pulled back on a few requirements at the urging of the School Nutrition Association, which represents the school food service directors and the companies that make school foods. Not all schools have pulled back the requirements, however.