The U.S. Dept. of Agriculture (USDA) announced the final updates to school nutrition standards, and the winners include those who wanted less sugar and sodium in food and beverage products served at schools, but didn’t want to see chocolate (and other flavored) milk disappear from the menus.
Added sugars will be limited for the first time, with breakfast items taking the biggest hit under the new standards. In Fall 2025, breakfast cereals, yogurt and flavored milk will see new limits on the amount of added sugar per ounce. Starting in the fall of 2027, no more than 10% of weekly calories in school meals can be from added sugars.
Speaking of flavored milk, USDA will still allow fat-free and low-fat flavored milk in all K-12 schools, so long as they meet the added sugars limits noted above. USDA stated that companies representing more than 90% of the school milk market in the U.S. have already committed to providing options with no more than 10g of added sugars per 8 oz. by the 2025-26 school year.
Sodium also will see a single, gradual reduction from current limits, to be achieved by the 2027-28 school year. At that point, schools will implement a reduction of approximately 15% for lunch and about 10% for breakfast from current limits on sodium.
USDA maintained its whole grains nutrition requirements, and the standards will continue to make it easier for schools to offer meats and meat alternatives (yogurt, beans, peas, lentils, eggs and tofu, for example) at breakfast, in the hopes those items would replace sugary choices and provide a better nutritional profile. School meals will still emphasize fruits, vegetables and whole grains, the USDA said.
The move is the latest regulatory change to impact the food and beverage industry under the Biden-Harris Administration, and it comes after more than a year after the proposed rule was publicized.
USDA said it received tremendous feedback to the February 2023 proposal during the 90-day public comment period — more than 136,000 total public comments were posted, it said. USDA also held more than 50 listening sessions with state agencies, school districts, advocacy organizations, tribal stakeholders, professional associations, food manufacturers and other federal agencies.
The agency took that feedback into account, as well as recommendations from the Dietary Guidelines for America, in designing the new standards. The administration believes the new school nutrition guidelines boost its efforts to end hunger and reduce diet-related disease by 2030 — goals set last September at the White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition and Health.
By law, USDA is required to set standards for the foods and beverages served through the school meal programs that align with the goals of the Dietary Guidelines for Americans. Schools then develop meals to feed their students and fit within the standards set forth.
