HOUSTON — Schools have nutritional guidelines they are required to follow to make sure kids are getting healthy meals during school hours.
During the pandemic it has been tough to meet those federal requirements thanks to everything from supply chain issues to worker shortages.
So the U.S. Department of Agriculture has not been punishing schools that fall short. Now the USDA has announced new less strict rules for nutrition so schools can slowly get back to normal.
The standards will be in place for the next two school years. They include allowing schools to serve low-fat flavored milk instead of non-fat, allowing 80 percent of cereals and breads to be whole grain instead of all of them and allowing more sodium in meals.
According to the USDA, more than 30 million children rely on school lunch programs with two-thirds of them qualifying for free or reduced-price meals. Studies have shown that kids from low-income homes are more likely to be obese and less likely to get healthy meals at home.
While critics say these transitional guidelines do not go far enough to keep those kids healthy, others say they put too much of a burden on already strained schools.