PRIORITY POLICY
School Meals and Snacks
An essential source of healthy food for tens of millions of kids
For decades, school meals have been helping to prevent hunger and provide nutrients that kids need to learn and thrive. The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated hunger and highlighted how critical school meals programs are for ensuring families have access to healthy food.Â
In 2019, nearly 30 million children participated in the National School Lunch Program and nearly 15 million participated in the School Breakfast Program. Among participating students, 3 in 4 qualify for free and reduced-price meals.
Making school meals healthier
USDA updated nutrition standards for school meals in 2012 to align with current science. The changes included requiring more fruits, vegetables and whole grains, and less sodium and saturated fats. According to USDA, 99% of schools meet the standards, meals have become much more nutritious since the changes took effect, and student participation is higher in schools that offer the healthiest meals. The healthier standards are also linked with lower rates of obesity among kids from families with low income.
Rolling back healthy standards
Yet, USDA rolled back some of the healthier standards in 2018 and in January 2020, proposed further rollbacks to let schools offer fewer fruits, limit the variety of vegetables, and offer more processed foods that are high in calories, fat, and sodium. Experts report the proposal, which has not been finalized, would harm student’s health and academic performance, noting that students from low-income families attending schools in Black and rural neighborhoods would be impacted most.Â
Feeding kids during the pandemic
To help address hunger during the pandemic, Congress passed relief measures that enabled USDA to let schools distribute meals outside of the school setting and offer meals to all students free of charge. Schools nationwide can offer universal free meals through the 2021–22 school year, which will help more than 12 million children get the nutrition they need.Â
These waivers, which have been extended through June 2022, also mean that the meals provided follow the less-stringent nutrition standards of the Summer Food Service Program.
Looking ahead
In the coming year, Congress will consider updates to the Child Nutrition Act–legislation that reauthorizes school meals and other federal nutrition programs. This marks a critical opportunity to alleviate hunger and support children’s health. In this committee hearing about the Child Nutrition Reauthorization (CNR) bill, Senators address the challenges of youth obesity and hunger, and advocate for expanding access to free school meals for children from families with low income, especially during summer when rates of hunger increase.
Recommendations
• Make universal school meals permanent and provide resources that ensure every child has access to free school meals.
• USDA should strengthen nutrition standards for school meals to align with the current Dietary Guidelines for Americans, particularly for added sugars.
• USDA should withdraw a rule proposed in January 2020 that would weaken school nutrition standards and adversely affect student health and academic performance.
• USDA should increase the reimbursement rate schools receive for each meal served that meets current nutrition standards.
• Congress should increase funding to support schools’ efforts to offer healthy meals, including resources for new school kitchen equipment, and training and technical assistance for school food service staff.
• States should work to make universal school meals permanent and implement nutrition standards that go beyond the federal standards.
• States and local districts should make safe, appealing drinking water free and available to all students by ensuring that every school has at least one water bottle filling station in a high-traffic area that is accessible throughout the day, with filtration if needed.
• Local, state, and federal governments should work together to ensure safe drinking and cooking water in all schools, including by requiring and funding testing and remediation for lead in school cafeteria and kitchen tap water, and requesting that USDA report to Congress on specific checkpoints USDA has added to on-site administrative review to ensure that there is effective oversight of drinking water safety and access.
Priority policy
Summer Food Service Programs
Summer meal programs are a lifeline for millions of children from families with low income who live in underserved and rural communities. Many children who rely on summer and school meals programs struggle with hunger or food insecurity. In 2014 and 2015, 84% of food-insecure households with school-age children accessed free- or reduced-price lunches.
INFOGRAPHIC
Healthy Universal School Meals Help Kids and Schools
Studies find that when schools offer healthy free meals to all, it improves students’ attendance and academic performance, increases school participation rates and helps combat food insecurity, especially among students from low-income families. An infographic by Healthy Eating Research shows how universal free school meals are critical to children’s overall diet quality and helps reduce their risk of obesity.
How School Meals Help Families Impacted by the Pandemic
School meals are a lifeline to tens of millions of families across the country. In March 2020, schools in the U.S. began closing in droves in response to COVID-19. School nutrition staff sprang into action, ensuring that children– and their families– received healthy foods in their time of need.
RESEARCH
USDA nutrition standards result in much healthier meals without raising costs
The nutritional quality foods and beverages offered in schools has improved dramatically between the 2009-2010 and 2014-2015 school years, thanks to USDA’s updated nutrition standards. Researchers find the meals are reaching kids from food insecure households and that serving healthier meals does not cost more.Â
Featured Studies and Resources
Updated School Nutrition Standards Are Effective
A 2019 USDA study found that school meals are considerably healthier under the updated standards, with student participation rates in meal programs highest in schools that are serving the healthiest meals.
Parents Want Healthier Standards
More than 70 percent of registered voter parents with school-age children support the updated school meal nutrition standards, according to a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and Pew Charitable Trusts poll.
Healthier Standards Can Prevent Obesity
Harvard researchers estimate the 2012 nutrition standards will prevent 2+ million cases of childhood obesity and save up to $792 million in health care-related costs over 10 years.
In recent years, schools have made tremendous progress to improve the quality of the foods they offer to students. Virtually all schools nationwide have successfully implemented USDA’s updated nutrition standards, which took effect in 2012. This infographic highlights the latest research showing how school meals are helping millions of kids grow up healthy.
