How would proposed nutritional rules for school meals affect Dallas ISD?

School lunch. Photo courtesy of CDC via Unsplash.

The United States Department of Agriculture proposed nutritional standards for school meals, but they won’t cause drastic changes for Dallas ISD students.

In a few of the targeted categories, such as levels of sodium and whole grains, Dallas ISD is already meeting or exceeding the proposed regulations, said Michael Rosenberger, the executive director of Food and Child Nutrition Services for Dallas ISD.

Announced Feb. 3 by U.S. agriculture officials, the proposed nutritional standards reflect the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2020-2025, which recommends and details healthy diets for all age groups.

Input from parents, school nutrition professionals, public health experts and industry partners was taken into consideration for the updates for school nutritional standards. The USDA is required by law to set standards for food and beverages served through school meal programs.

For the first time, the USDA is proposing to limit added sugars in grain-based desserts (cereal bars, coffee cakes, fruit turnovers), breakfast cereals, yogurts and flavored milks. According to a USDA report from 2022, school breakfasts account for 17% of calories from added sugar, and school lunches account for 11%. These quantities exceed the recommendation of added sugar accounting for no more than 10% of calories each day.

Other proposed rules include changing when flavored milks are available for certain grade levels; requiring more whole grains; and further limiting sodium. See a side-by-side comparison of current standards and proposed changes here.

Rosenberger said the proposed regulations for added sugar and flavored milks would affect Dallas ISD students most.

“Items that a lot of us think of as on the healthier side, like granola bars or blueberry muffins, probably would not meet those standards,” Rosenberger said.

But Dallas ISD already offers reduced-sugar items, such as chocolate milk and some cereals, he said.

Cinnamon Toast Crunch, an option for Dallas ISD students, has 30 grams of added sugar in every 2 dry ounces. But Blueberry Rice Chex, another option, has 12 grams of added sugar in every 2 dry ounces. The USDA’s proposed limits on breakfast cereals call for no more than 6 grams of added sugar per dry ounce, meaning Blueberry Rice Chex would be allowed, but Cinnamon Toast Crunch would not.

Dallas ISD makes flavored milk available to students in first grade and older. This is stricter than current USDA guidelines, which allow flavored milks for kindergarten students, too. In the regulations, the USDA provided an option to leave the guidelines for flavored milks in place, or to allow flavored milk only for students in grades 6-12 or 9-12.

“Of course, whatever the final regulation is, we will comply with,” Rosenberger said.

The new requirements call for gradual reductions in sodium levels, but Rosenberger said Dallas ISD already limits sodium to the USDA’s end goals.

“What’s been proposed would not really impact the meals that we serve, as far as sodium goes,” Rosenberger said.

A minimum of 80% of the grains served in school meals must be whole-grain rich, according to current USDA standards. But Rosenberger said closer to 90% of the grains served at Dallas ISD schools are whole-grain rich. The school district uses brown rice, which is 100% whole grain, and breads are 51% or more whole grain.

In a press release announcing the proposed rules, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said school meals are the healthiest meals most kids eat during the day. In fiscal year 2019, the National School Lunch Program provided 4.9 billion lunches to kids across the country. Each day, Dallas ISD serves about 150,000 breakfast and lunch meals and about 10,000 dinners, Rosenberger said.

Yet many kids aren’t getting the nutrition they need, Vilsack said, and diet-related diseases are increasing.

According to the Dietary Guidelines, 41% of children and adolescents (ages 2-18) in the U.S. are overweight or have obesity.

In a study included in the Dietary Guidelines, kids ages 2-4 scored 61 out of 100 on the Healthy Eating Index, a measure of diet quality that can be used to evaluate whether standards outlined in the Dietary Guidelines are being met. That score declines as children grow, falling to a score of 51 for the 14-18 age bracket.

Children and adolescents aren’t eating enough vegetables, the Dietary Guidelines found, and more than 50% of all children and adolescents are exceeding recommended limits on added sugars, saturated fat and sodium.

The USDA is receiving public comments on the proposed nutritional standards through April 10. To leave a written comment, click here.

The USDA wants to publish final standards in time for the 2024-25 school year, when the first changes would go into effect. All changes would be in place by fall 2029.