FILE - Second-grade students select their meals during lunch break in the cafeteria at an elementary school in Scottsdale, Ariz., Dec. 12, 2022. On Friday, Feb. 3, 2023, U.S. agriculture officials proposed new nutrition standards for school meals, including the first-ever limits on added sugars, with a focus on sweetened foods such as cereals, yogurt, flavored milk and breakfast pastries. U.S.
“School meals happen to be the meals with the highest nutritional value of any meal that children can get outside the home,” Vilsack said in an interview. By the fall of 2027, added sugars in school meals would be limited to less than 10% of the total calories per week for breakfasts and lunches. Health experts say cutting back on sugar and salt can help decrease the risk of disease in kids, including obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure and other problems that often continue into adulthood.
“School meal programs are at a breaking point,” she said. “These programs are simply not equipped to meet additional rules.” Courtney Gaines, president of the Sugar Association, said the proposal ignores the “many functional roles” sugar plays in food beyond sweetness and encourages the use of sugar substitutes, which have not been fully studied in children. Sugar substitutes are allowed under the new standards, Vilsack said.