This final rule modifies several key proposed requirements to respond to commenter concerns and facilitate successful implementation of the requirements at the State and local levels. The rule phases in many of the changes to help ensure that all stakeholders—the children, the schools, and their supply chains—have time to adapt. Most notably, this final rule provides additional time for implementation of the breakfast requirements and modifies those requirements in a manner that reduces the estimated costs of breakfast changes, as compared to the proposed rule. As a result, the final rule is estimated to add $3.2 billion to school meal costs over 5 years, considerably less than the estimated cost of the proposed rule. When considered in the context of other related provisions of the Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act (HHFKA) of 2010, sufficient resources are expected to be available to school food authorities to cover the additional costs of updated meal offerings to meet the new standards.
Specifically, in addition to improving nutritional quality, the HHFKA mandated that beginning July 1, 2011, revenue streams for a la carte foods relative to their costs be at least as high as the revenue streams for Program meals compared to their costs. Consequently schools should receive over $1 billion a year in new food revenues beginning in School Year 2011–2012. That will help schools work toward implementing the new standards effective the following year, i.e., July 1, 2012. In addition, USDA estimates that the ‘‘School Food Authorities revenues’’ rule will increase participation in school meal programs by 800,000 children. In addition, the six-cent per lunch performance-based reimbursement increase included in the HHFKA will provide additional revenue beginning October 1, 2012. The Congressional Budget Office estimated about $1.5 billion over 5 years will be provided in performance-based funding.
I. Background The Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act (NSLA) in Section 9(a)(4), 42 U.S.C. 1758(a)(4), requires that school meals reflect the latest ‘‘Dietary Guidelines for Americans’’ (Dietary Guidelines). In addition, section 201 of the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010 (Pub. L. 111–296, HHFKA) amended Section 4(b) of the NSLA, 42 U.S.C. 1753(b), to require the Department of Agriculture (USDA) to issue regulations to update the meal patterns and nutrition standards for school lunches and breakfasts based on the recommendations issued by the Food and Nutrition Board of the National Research Council of the National Academies of Science, part of the Institute of Medicine (IOM). On January 13, 2011, USDA published a proposed rule in the Federal Register (76 FR 2494) to update the meal patterns and nutrition standards for the National School Lunch Program (NSLP) and the School Breakfast Program (SBP) to align them with the 2005 Dietary Guidelines. The proposed rule sought to increase the availability of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and fat-free and low-fat fluid milk in the school menu; reduce the levels of sodium, saturated fat and trans fat in school meals; and meet the nutrition needs of school children within their calorie requirements. The intent of the proposed rule was to provide nutrient-dense meals (high in nutrients and low in calories) that better meet the dietary needs of school children and protect their health. The proposed changes, designed for meals offered to school children in grades Kindergarten (K) to 12, were largely based on the IOM recommendations set forth in the report ‘‘School Meals: Building Blocks for Healthy Children’’ (October 2009).
In summary, the January 2011 proposed rule sought to improve lunches and breakfasts by requiring schools to:
•Offer fruits and vegetables as two separate meal components;
•Offer fruit daily at breakfast and lunch;
•Offer vegetables daily at lunch, including specific vegetable subgroups weekly (dark green, orange, legumes, and other as defined in the 2005 Dietary Guidelines) and a limited quantity of starchy vegetables throughout the week;
•Offer whole grains: half of the grains would be whole grain-rich upon implementation of the rule and all grains would be whole-grain rich two years post implementation;
•Offer a daily meat/meat alternate at breakfast;
•Offer fluid milk that is fat-free (unflavored and flavored) and low-fat (unflavored only);
•Offer meals that meet specific calorie ranges for each age/grade group;
•Reduce the sodium content of meals gradually over a 10-year period through two intermediate sodium targets at two and four years post implementation;
•Prepare meals using food products or ingredients that contain zero grams of trans fat per serving;
•Require students to select a fruit or a vegetable as part of the reimbursable meal;
•Use a single food-based menu planning approach; and
•Use narrower age/grade groups for menu planning. In addition, the proposed rule sought to improve school meals by requiring State agencies (SAs) to: •Conduct a nutritional review of school lunches and breakfasts as part of the administrative review process;
•Determine compliance with the meal patterns and dietary specifications based on a review of menu and production records for a two-week period; and
•Review school lunches and breakfasts every 3 years, consistent with the HHFKA.
https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/.../2012-1010.pdf
Reverses on Michelle Obama's School Lunch Reforms.
Originally Posted by The Washington Post
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