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The U.S. Department of Agriculture has introduced proposed new rules for school lunches that wouldcontinue to eliminate the regulationsput in place during the Obama administration.
Last Friday, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdueannouncednew proposals that loosen the current rules regarding the type and amount of fruits and vegetables required in kids’ school lunches. In a press release, the department claimed that expanding the number of food items that qualify as a vegetable would help reduce waste, as students often throw out vegetables that they don’t like to eat.
“Schools and school districts continue to tell us that there is still too much food waste and that more common-sense flexibility is needed to provide students nutritious and appetizing meals. We listened and now we’re getting to work,” Secretary Perdue said in a statement.
Theproposed new guidelineswould make permanent a previous temporary rule that counted potatoes and other starchy vegetables as a fruit during breakfast, and would also count some types of pasta as a vegetable.
“Pasta made of vegetable flour(s) may credit as a vegetable, even if the pasta is not served with another recognizable vegetable,” the proposed rule states.
The proposed rule change would also affect “à la carte” meals, allowing schools to sell items like pizza and burgers more frequently.
Colin Schwartz, deputy director of legislative affairs for the Center for Science in the Public Interest, toldThe Washington Postthat the proposed rules “would create a huge loophole in school nutrition guidelines, paving the way for children to choose pizza, burgers, french fries and other foods high in calories, saturated fat or sodium in place of balanced school meals every day.”
The proposed new rules are nowopen for public commentfor 60 days before they become finalized.
The 2010 act reduced school lunch calorie maximums, cut sodium and trans fat, and required more fruits, vegetables and whole grains.
source: people.com
