USDA issues transitional school meal standards through 2023-24

The USDA is releasing transitional nutrition standards for school meals through the 2023-24 school year while it engages in notice and-comment rulemaking to update the meal pattern standards to more comprehensively reflect the 2020-25 Dietary Guidelines for Americans.

“This final rule will provide immediate relief to schools during the return to traditional school meal service following extended use of COVID-19 meal pattern flexibilities,” the USDA’s Food & Nutrition Service said in its final rule document.

The rule finalizes the proposed milk provision by allowing local operators of the National School Lunch Program and School Breakfast Program to offer flavored, low-fat (1%) milk for students in grades K-12 and for sale as a competitive beverage.

In addition, beginning in the 2022-23 school year, this final rule will require at least 80% of the weekly grains in the school lunch and breakfast menus to be whole-grain-rich and it will modify the proposed sodium standards and establish Sodium Target 1 as the sodium limit for school lunch and breakfast in the 2022-23 school year as proposed, but implement a Sodium Interim Target 1A effective for school lunch only beginning in the 2023-24 school year.

All other nutrition standards, including fruit and vegetable requirements, will remain the same as the 2012 standards.

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The School Nutrition Association praised the move and urged Congress to provide additional support by authorizing child nutrition waiver extensions through the 2022-23 school year to address immediate supply chain issues, higher costs and the need to maintain pandemic safety measures.

“School nutrition professionals are frantic just trying to get enough food on the tray for our students amid relentless supply chain disruptions and labor shortages,” said SNA President Beth Wallace in the group’s press release response to USDA’s announcement. “We greatly appreciate USDA addressing regulatory requirements and look forward to further collaboration with the Department to assess the viability of nutrition standards moving forward. With school nutrition professionals already planning menus and placing orders for the fall, we also urgently require Congress’ approval of waiver extensions to ensure all students continue to benefit from healthy school meals.”

SNA noted that persistent supply chain problems have forced food companies and distributors to streamline offerings and reduce the geographic areas they serve, leaving many meal programs without access to foods that meet highly specialized school nutrition standards. Its November 2021 Supply Chain Survey found more than 96% of respondents cited challenges with suppliers not carrying sufficient menu items needed to meet nutrition standards, such as whole-grain, low-sodium and low-fat options.

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“Consolidation in the school nutrition industry signals the lasting impact of these disruptions on the K-12 market and the need for regulatory relief moving forward,” SNA’s press release stated. 

SNA’s 2022 Position Paper, released in January, urged Congress to extend pandemic-related child nutrition waivers and ease rules on sodium, whole grains and milk to address menu planning challenges while ensuring students continue to receive healthy school meals at no charge.

“These transitional standards are step one of a longer-term strategy to lean into the school meal programs as a crucial part of improving child health,” stated USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack in the release announcing the move. “Over the coming months and years, USDA will work closely with its school meal partners to develop the next iteration of nutrition requirements. We’ve got to find the right balance between standards that give our kids the best chance at a healthy future based on the latest nutrition science, and ensuring those standards are practical, built to last, and work for everyone.”