School Meals Building Blocks for Healthy Children (2010) / Chapter Skim
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From page 1... ...
The eight recommendations in this report update those Nutrition Standards and Meal Requirements, shift the focus toward meeting recommendations in Dietary Guidelines for Americans, emphasize the need for effective implementation, and identify key research topics. Numerous school-based factors, such as other foods offered and nutrition education efforts, ultimately have an impact on the foods that children eat at school.
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From page 2... ...
This request relates to the congressional requirement that USDA issue new guidance and regulations for the Nutrition Standards and Meal Requirements of the school meal programs. In particular, the committee was asked to review and assess the food and nutritional needs of school-aged children in the United States using the 2005 Dietary Guidelines for Americans and the IOM's Dietary Reference Intakes (DRIs)
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SUMMARY NUTRITION STANDARDS • Nutrition Standards -- Goals for School Meals -- -- Foundation of school meals -- Established by USDA and "Nutrient Standards" for specified in regulation age-grade groups -- "Nutrient Standards" currently reflect required nutrients in calculated quantities for age-grade groups • Meal Requirements implement the Nutrition Standards -- Established by USDA and MEAL REQUIREMENTS specified in regulation • Meal Requirements consist of standards for two types of menu Meal Requirements Meal Requirements planning approaches For For Food-Based Nutrient-Based • Menu planning approach is Menu Planning Menu Planning selected by the school food authority and menus are developed at the local level • Meal "as offered" to the student Standards for Standards for must meet the as offered standard Food-Based Nutrient-Based for the menu planning approach Menu Planning Menu Planning • Meal selected by student -- "as served" -- must meet the as served standard for the menu planning approach Food-Based Nutrient-Based Standards for Standards for Meals as Served Meals as Served by the Student by the Student • Components of child's meal checked by cashier Reimbursability of Meal Established FIGURE S-1 Relationships among current Nutrition Standards, Meal Requirements, and eligibility for federal reimbursement. THE APPROACH During Phase I of the Figuresthe committee developed four criteria project, S-1 and 1-1 R01592 to guide the development and testing of its recommendations, proposed a vector editable process for addressing its tasks, and prepared the Phase I report for public comment.
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The Nutrient Targets and Meal Requirements will be consistent with current dietary guidance and nutrition recommendations to promote health -- as exemplified by the Dietary Guidelines for Americans and the Dietary Reference Intakes -- with the ultimate goals of improving children's diets by reducing the prevalence of inadequate and excessive intakes of food, nutrients, and calories. Criterion 2.
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Recommended Nutrient Targets Recommendation 1. The Food and Nutrition Service of USDA should adopt the Nutrient Targets as the scientific basis for setting standards for menu planning for school meals but should not adopt a nutrient based standard for school meal planning and monitoring.
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This aligns the target with Dietary Guidelines. Although the goal is to eliminate trans fat from school meals, it was not possible to set a specific Nutrient Target for this fat.
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Even though the targets are relatively high, analyses of projected intakes indicate a low prevalence of intakes that exceed the Tolerable Upper Intake Level for most nutrients. Furthermore, analyses showed that almost all the Nutrient Targets would be met if MyPyramid food patterns, which correspond to the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, are used as the basis of standards for menu planning (see next section)
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From page 8... ...
The recommendation is for a single approach to menu planning that is largely food based but that also includes specifications for minimum and maximum calorie levels, maximum saturated fat content, and maximum sodium content. Without those specifications, there would be no practical way to achieve alignment with Dietary Guidelines.
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hTo ensure that action is taken to reduce the sodium content of school meals over the 10-year period in a manner that maintains student participation rates, the committee suggests the setting of intermediate targets for each 2-year interval. (See the section "Achieving Long-Term Goals" in Chapter 10.)
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From page 10... ...
The effectiveness of revised Meal Requirements will be determined in a large part by the manner in which they are implemented. Strategies that can be used to promote change include engaging the school community; involving students, parents, and the community; providing nutrition education; training and mentoring of food service workers; and providing technical assistance.
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The Food and Nutrition Service, working together with state agencies, professional organizations, and industry, should provide extensive support to enable food service operators to adapt to the many changes required by revised Meal Requirements. The types of support required include the following:
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From page 12... ...
The committee suggests that, at least for the next few years, monitoring guidance be directed toward facilitating the transition to the new Meal Requirements. Such guidance would place an emphasis on examining progress in meeting the standards, especially those related to fruits, vegetables, whole grain-rich foods, calories, saturated fat, and sodium; identifying training needs for school food service operators; and providing needed technical assistance to improve the school meals.
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From page 13... ...
Consistent with Current Dietary Guidance The Nutrient Targets were based on the Dietary Reference Intakes, using methods recommended for this purpose. The Meal Requirements were designed to come as close as possible to Dietary Guidelines and to the Nutrient Targets while still being practical.
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From page 14... ...
High-quality menu planning for school meals is always a complex task, and application of the standards for menu planning will present challenges for many school food service directors. However, meeting the Meal Requirements is only one of many aspects of the process.
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Required food composition data are limited to calories, saturated fat, trans fat, and sodium -- each of which is readily available on nutrition facts panels or from manufacturers. Simplification of Monitoring the Nutritional Quality of Meals Recommendation 4b concerning the monitoring of the quality of school meals does not call for analysis of the broad array of nutrients for which Nutrient Targets were set.
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For a smooth transition, technical assistance must cover analysis of and strategies for the most effective approaches to implementing menu changes. RECOMMENDATIONS FOR EVALUATION AND RESEARCH The committee considered needs for the overall evaluation of the Nutrient Targets and Meal Requirements and for related research.
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CLOSING REMARKS The recommendations for Nutrient Targets and Meal Requirements lay the foundation for healthy school meals that are consistent with current dietary recommendations. The ultimate effect of improvements in program regulations that are based on these recommendations will depend on the effectiveness of a broad array of implementation strategies.
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