AMI: USDA To Publish Proposed Rule On New Nutrition Requirements For School Meals

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) will publish a proposed rule tomorrow in the Federal Register that revises meal patterns and nutritional requirements for the National School Lunch Program and the School Breakfast Program in an effort to align them with the 2005 “Dietary Guidelines for Americans,” as required by the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act.

The proposed changes are based on recommendations from the National Academies’ Institute of Medicine in the report “School Meals: Building Blocks for Healthy Children.”

This proposed rule would increase the availability of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and fat-free and low-fat fluid milk in school meals and reduce the levels of sodium (less than 1500 mg per day) and saturated fat (less than 7 percent of total calories) in meals.

Written comments will be considered for 90 days after publication and may be submitted via the Federal eRulemaking Portal at http://www.regulations.gov/ or by mail to Julie Brewer, Chief, Policy and Program Development Branch, Child Nutrition Division, Food and Nutrition Service, Department of Agriculture, 3101 Park Center Drive, Room 640, Alexandria, Virginia 22302-1594.

To view the proposed rule, click here: http://www.ofr.gov/OFRUpload/OFRData/2011-00485_PI.pdf

Source: American Meat Institute

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