New Rules Will Change the Face of School Nutrition

摘要

As K-12 school directors look to the years ahead, the most significant forces affecting their nutrition programs will come from implementation of two pieces of Federal legislation that are in the process of final rulemaking as this issue goes to press. The first will be the USDA's new standards that update school meal pattern requirements to bring them in line with the current "Dietary Guidelines for Americans" as recommended by the Institute of Medicine. (The existing guidelines are based on the 1995 Dietary Guidelines, now more than 15 years old). The second will be the implementation of the Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act, passed by Congress in December, which re-authorizes and enhances the National School Lunch Act and associated child nutrition legislation.