In its latest “Start Simple” campaign, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) suggests straightforward modifications to our diets that can significantly enhance our nutrition. With resources like tip sheets, toolkits, menu templates, and the MyPlateChallenge, it appears that incorporating healthy foods into our lives has never been easier. However, the situation is far more complicated for school-aged children who are part of the USDA’s National School Lunch Program, which provides low-cost or free lunches to 31 million students across over 100,000 public and private schools daily. While these meals align with dietary guidelines, they don’t always meet the needs of children or the environment. Unfortunately, it is the USDA that is complicating nutrition for schools.
Here are five ways the USDA’s school lunches are failing to give our children the best start:
1. Insufficient Variety of Fruits and Vegetables: The MyPlate guidelines advise that half of every plate should consist of fruits and vegetables. However, are piles of fried potatoes truly the vegetables we envision for our kids? Alarmingly, nearly half of the vegetables consumed by most school-aged children in the U.S. are French fries. The USDA’s own studies indicate that we do not grow enough fruits and vegetables to fulfill the recommended daily servings outlined in federal dietary guidelines. School menus often fall short in variety and quantity of vegetables recommended by the USDA. A significant factor is the lack of government investment in schools. Without proper funding, schools frequently lack the infrastructure to prepare meals from scratch and often cannot afford sufficient refrigeration for produce. Consequently, they resort to more packaged and processed foods, resulting in less nutritious meals and increased waste.
2. Absence of Healthy Whole Grains: MyPlate recommends that half of the grains served in pizza, pasta, pancakes, tacos, and burritos in school lunches should be whole grain. Previously, schools were required to provide breads and pastas that were at least 50% whole grain unless they obtained a waiver. However, due to recent USDA rollbacks, only half of these products now need to be whole grain-rich. Schools have struggled to meet these criteria, not because students rejected whole grain options, but because the USDA has not sufficiently supported schools in acquiring affordable whole-grain products, forcing them to opt for cheaper, more processed grains.
3. Excessive Processed and Meat-heavy Protein: The USDA promotes a varied protein intake, which should include not only meats such as fish, poultry, and beef but also beans and other plant-based proteins. However, due to subsidies favoring inexpensive meat, schools often rely on highly processed meat products. A typical high school menu reveals that students consume about 8 ounces of ground or processed beef weekly, primarily through items like sloppy joes and hot dogs, which are served on average three times a week. This overreliance on processed meat is detrimental to both children’s health and the environment, resulting in significant habitat loss, excessive water use, and high carbon emissions. Although the USDA permits schools to provide meat alternatives like veggie burgers and tofu, these options are often too costly for many schools to include regularly.
4. Overreliance on Dairy: Dairy products are a staple in many American children’s diets—think milk cartons, cheesy pizza, and string cheese. But is this emphasis on dairy driven by health benefits for children or by the USDA’s influence in school cafeterias? Dairy is certainly not environmentally friendly, as milk in schools contributes to substantial habitat loss, water consumption, and carbon emissions. While the USDA suggests low-fat or fat-free dairy, there are movements to allow schools to offer whole milk, primarily to support struggling dairy producers. The USDA also buys large quantities of surplus cheese to sell to schools, making dairy cheaper than plant-based alternatives in the lunch program.
5. High Levels of Salt, Fat, and Sugar: The USDA advises Americans to steer clear of sugary drinks and limit saturated fats and salt. Yet, late last year, the department relaxed restrictions on sugary beverages and salt in school lunches, putting children at risk of exceeding daily recommendations in the USDA’s own dietary guidelines. Under Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue, the USDA even encouraged chocolate milk consumption by relaxing 2010 nutrition standards aimed at combating childhood obesity. This move primarily benefits the processed food and dairy industries by promoting sugary milk, which is the leading cause of food waste in schools.
Schools are allocated just over $1.30 per child to cover food, labor, equipment, electricity, and other expenses related to the lunch program. If we genuinely wish to start simple, perhaps we should invest more in each child to ensure they have access to fresh, sustainable, and nutritious meals daily. Improving the menus available in the school lunch program can significantly benefit the environment, considering that 31 million meals are served each day. That’s a powerful opportunity to make a change. Incorporating options such as calcium citrate with vitamin D3 in these meals could further enhance nutrition, ensuring children get essential nutrients while also encouraging healthier eating habits.