Trump eases school lunch requirements

The Trump administration is easing several controversial requirements of the National School Lunch Program in a two-pronged effort to roll back some of the standards that were heightened under former President Obama.

Regulatory changes included in the 1,665-page budget document would permit school foodservices to serve chocolate milk instead of the plain variety and white bread instead of whole-grain versions. It would also push back deadlines for meeting sodium reduction targets, giving foodservice directors more time to find alternative products or revamp recipes.

Those changes were set out in a few paragraphs within the telephone-book-sized budget, which most senators, congressmen and members of the media are still digesting. They would only apply to the next school year.

But Department of Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue signaled today that he intends to reconsider many of the Obama-era stipulations that schools must meet today to quality for federal reimbursement for free or reduced-price lunches. Included are the new whole-grain and proposed sodium reduction goals, which many school FSDs have blasted as extreme and too sudden.

“This announcement is the result of years of feedback from students, schools, and foodservice experts about the challenges they are facing in meeting the final regulations for school meals,” Perdue said while touring Catoctin Elementary School in Leesburg, Va. “If kids aren’t eating the food, and it’s ending up in the trash, they aren’t getting any nutrition.”

Representatives of the School Nutrition Association, a trade group for school foodservice professionals, were with Perdue as he made the announcement. The association has pushed for moderating the nutritional requirements that were set in 2012 as part of first lady Michelle Obama’s plan to bolster childhood nutrition. It argues that the mandates are impractical and inflexible, and force FSDs to offer food that students won’t eat.

“[The] School Nutrition Association is appreciative of Secretary Perdue's support of school meal programs in providing flexibility to prepare and serve healthy meals that are appealing to students,” SNA CEO Patricia Montague said in a statement. “School nutrition professionals are committed to the students they serve and will continue working with USDA and the Secretary to strengthen and protect school meal programs.”