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Could Tiny Rhode Island Become a School Lunch Model?
I attended a Slow Food Eat-In in Tiverton, Rhode Island yesterday, and over delicious salads and home-baked bread, I talked to Jennifer Quigley-Harris from Kids First and learned some amazing things about school food in the Ocean State.
This month, new nutrition standards for cafeteria meals take effect in all Rhode Island schools. This is really exciting. Though states like California and Texas have regulations on foods sold in schools, the policies deal mostly with a la carte foods, and if they deal with meals, they deal mostly with fat and calories. As far as I know, Rhode Island is the first state to meaningfully tackle the substance of school meals served through the National School Lunch Program. And the standards are pretty impressive:
Grains: All grains served in schools must be whole grains. Half of the grain products served can be at least 50 percent whole grain, and the other half must be 100 percent whole grain. Grain products can have no more than 7 grams of sugar per ounce.
Fruits and Vegetables: Schools must offer at least two servings of fruits and vegetables at breakfast, at least three servings at lunch and at least one serving in after-school snacks. In addition, they must serve at least three different fruits and at least five different non-fried vegetables each week. Each day, one of the vegetables offered must be dark green or orange and one must be fresh or raw. The guidelines allow only one serving of 100 percent fruit juice each day, in either breakfast or lunch.
Legumes: Each week, schools must serve at least one serving of cooked legumes, such as beans, peas or lentils.
Sodium: Breakfasts can contain no more than 575 mg of sodium and lunches can contain no more than 770 mg. Snacks can contain no more than 350.
Milk and Juice: Flavored milk is only allowed if it has less than four grams of sugar per ounce, and juice must be 100 percent juice. Artificial sweeteners are not allowed.
I’ve been concerned that the debate over competitive foods has overshadowed school meals, which are also in a sorry state. The USDA standards are still not in line with the 2005 Dietary Guidelines for Americans, and although the Institute of Medicine is slated to submit recommendations for improvements in December, it may still be a while before we see updated federal regulations for school meals. In the meantime, maybe other states will follow Rhode Island’s lead.
October 1st, 2009 at 6:35 pm
As a student eating the food, I agree to have the choice of have a healthy meal. I actualy enjoy eating some of the foods my school serves. However, I am a high school student, not a preschooler. I think that I have the right to choose what to eat. Personally, I think that the whole thing is going a little bit overboard. Some things that i would like to have back would be a snack machine with healthy snacks, such as granola bars, trail mixes, or somthing like special K snacks. This is for the simple fact that it would give our brains a boost of energy to keep us going throughout the day. A healthy body should eat somthing nutritious and small every three hours, studies prove this is true. A vending machine with drinks such as Propel, Vitamin Water, water and/or V8 fusion drinks (which have a seriving of veggies and fruit in one bottle) would help teenagers with hydration during school.
Thank you for reading, Krystle