Obama Issues New Nutrition Standards
The Let's Move! coalition rolled out their new nutrition standards today; The move will immediately effect public school lunches nationwide.
According to The New York Times, the Obama administration recently announced the new federal nutrition standards for school meals. Michelle Obama and Agricultural Secretary Tom Vilsack released the standards at Parklawn Elementary School in Alexandria, Virginia.
The initiative marks First Lady Michelle Obama's campaign to get Americans to eat healthier.
The new rules are a step in the first lady’s campaign to reduce the number of obese children in America. She stated that parents are constantly trying to make sure their kids eat healthy food throughout the day, so "when we are putting in all that effort the last thing we want is for our hard work to be undone each day in the school cafeteria."
So what's changed and what's new on the tray?
[The policy mandates] fruits and vegetables everyday, increase whole-grain offerings, and reduce saturated fat, trans fat, and sodium in lunchtime meals. Additionally, the program gets rid of a previous method for lunch planning called “nutrient standard menu planning.” The system allowed schools to focus on specific individual nutrient requirements, leading to strange menu additions like animal cracker cookies for breakfast because they contained fortified white flour (satisfying the requirement for iron).
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