The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) on Wednesday announced a series of changes to nutrition standards for school meals, targeting added sugars and sodium.
Key changes to the nutrition standards would include:
Added Sugars
- For the first time, added sugars will be limited in school meals nationwide, with small changes happening by Fall 2025 and full implementation by Fall 2027. USDA heard concerns from parents and teachers about excessive amounts of added sugars in some foods, which factored into this new limit. Research shows that these added sugars are most commonly found in typical school breakfast items. Childcare operators will also begin limiting added sugars in cereals and yogurts – rather than total sugars – by Fall 2025.
Sodium
- Schools will need to slightly reduce the sodium content in their meals by Fall 2027. In response to public comments, USDA is only requiring one sodium reduction, and not the three incremental reductions that were proposed last year. This change still moves our children in the right direction and gives schools and industry the lead time they need to prepare. The sodium limits in this final rule will be familiar to schools, as they were supported by leading school nutrition and industry stakeholders during previous rulemaking activities in 2017 and 2018.
Milk
- Schools can continue to offer flavored and unflavored milk, which provide essential nutrients that children need, such as calcium, vitamin D, and potassium. There will be a new limit on added sugars in flavored milk served at breakfast and lunch by Fall 2025. Thirty-seven school milk processors – representing more than 90% of the school milk volume nationwide – have already committed to providing nutritious school milk options that meet this limit on added sugars.
USDA’s press release can be found here.
