California Department of Food & Agriculture
California Department of Food & Agriculture
30/08/2024 | News release | Distributed by Public on 30/08/2024 22:50
Celebrating new school meal options as new school year begins
[Link]Food service crew members in the Lodi Unified School District
The U.S. Department of Agriculture joined the U.S. Department of Education this week, along with education, parent, and school-meal partner organizations to host a virtual pep rally to celebrate the back-to-school season and thank the champions who educate and nourish our nation's school children. The rally highlighted key steps the Biden-Harris Administration has taken to support school meals and nutrition as a key educational tool that kids need to be successful in the classroom.
"Healthy school meals are an essential part of the educational environment and fuel children to learn, grow and thrive," said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack. "USDA is fully committed to setting kids up for success and this rally gives us the opportunity to come together and encourage one another to raise the bar for school meals in this new school year and beyond. We're grateful to our partners at the Department of Education, along with all the schools, districts, states, and industry who care so much about the connection between healthy meals and our children's futures, and we're excited to continue to work together to make this back-to-school season a success.
"As someone who's been a teacher and a school principal, I've seen how hard our school nutrition professionals work every day - and I've seen the incredible difference it makes when a student comes to class after a healthy meal, energized, with a smile on their face, ready to learn," said U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona, "This rally is a reminder: school is not just a place where students go to learn reading and math. At its best, a school is a hub of the community, and one of the first places that a student and their family can get their most basic needs met."
Earlier this year, USDA announced updated nutrition standards, which include changes that provide schools more options to successfully plan and prepare healthy meals. K-12 schools serve nutritious meals to about 30 million children every school day and these meals are an important source of nutrition for many children.
What's New: Tastier, Healthier Options for Schools
Beginning this school year, schools have more options to:
· Serve protein-rich breakfast foods such as yogurt, tofu, eggs, nuts and seeds, which can help them offer less sugary foods, while also supporting vegetarian diets and other food preferences.
· Buy local foods. Schools can require unprocessed agricultural products to be locally grown, raised or caught when making purchases for school meal programs. More information about these new options is available on the Procuring Local Foods webpage.
Learn about how some school districts are already cutting down on added sugars and bringing more local foods into the cafeteria, with support from USDA.