USDA Proposes Limits on Sugar in School Meals - Comment Period Now Open

Yes, Michelle Obama tried to do this but the Republicans had a fit because it cut into the profits of the restaurant/food service lobby. School lunch should not be a business; all children deserve healthy, affordably priced lunches in public schools, not the cheapest to make the most profit and get the most purchases. 

It's time once again to show that after forcing children to be born, that we care about their health and wellbeing by providing quality food along with a quality education. We need the next generation to be healthy and fit. Cut the extra sugar and salt and feed these children well.

A lot of kids are fed crap. I've seen fast food served at school lunches.

I don't think many people actually know what's healthy anymore, so this is a good step, healthier foods = lower healthcare issues. 

There was a time when we actually had minimum sufficient meals in schools. Then we subsidized Fast Food quality into the lunch programs. We allowed junk food into schools to earn money for various school groups. All I see is Federal Government making mandatory rules but very little dollar to support these rules. Not only with lunches but studies, working staff wages, and student behavior. Government supports the fast food industries, but crams unregulated rules down our throats. Studies and physical activities were once a priority, no longer. Our student population has grown so we turned our public schools into factories. 

More generally, we need to improve the entire quality of diet and nutrition being offerd to kids in school. Good start to cut back on added sugar and salt, though.

Going the way of healthier industrialized nations might help, but I  can envision a few ways it can go wrong. I also think school meals should be greener, more sustainable, locally sourced if possible, and most of all, managed with an eye towards reducing food waste.

not up to feds, local issue. another power grab to control our lives 

Absolutely!  Habits are developed while young.  This will be making these children healthier for the rest of their longer lives.

YES!!!!!  We know that the consumption of sugary products contributes to poor health outcomes and is a contributing factor in the growing obesity problem along children, thus schools meal programs should limit the amt. of sugar that is contained in those meals.  Furthermore, vending machines in schools should either be removed or replace the contents with healthy items.

Speaking of Woke...

Everyone assumes what a healthy "school lunch" is. Those assumptions likely differ. No one has mentioned providing for or, at least trying to provide for children from various cultural backgrounds.

Some schools have different multiethnic populations. One of my friends worked at one such school and through some miscommunication about the time fot dinner plans he invited me into a international food night at his school before we went out for dinner.

At this school event there were stations for food samples from the Dominican Republic, Columbia, Ecuador, Guyana, Israel, three different Chinese communities (one was Taiwan), Afghanistan, Ethiopia, Nigeria, India, and Pakistan, if I recall correctly.

That night i remember he was complaining about how many Muslim kids didn't show up during the month of Ramadan. He said it was more than half his best Math students. 

There's a lot more to things besides providing the veggies you'd like your kids to eat, cooked in a way your kids eat them.

First, there's the money to feed several hundred or several thousand or a couple of million kids depending on where you live. 

Then being able to afford institutional cooks who can cook food kids will eat. 

But if you're saying your grandkids kids don't any kind of salad, pick up the phone and make some calls. 

Limitations on sugar and salt in school meals is a great thing.  The problem isn't the school meals, no, it's at home.  Some parents do not realize the consequences of allowing their kids to eat junk.  Some parents say they don't have the time or the money to make healthy meals at home.  I've heard it all, and have seen it.  It is a sad situation for some.  At least the school meals will be healthier.

The government should be much more focused on seriously increasing the amount of SNAP benefits and expanding qualifications so that more people and families can qualify for food assistance. Healthy foods are far more expensive to buy than cheap sugary/salty foods. 

If you want people to eat healthy, give them the ability to do so. 

Usually kids are more interested in eating food which contains high sugar. Eating more sugar can cause hyper like more aggressive. That can cause them to not listen to the parents and teachers and it may increase autism. So in my perspective by limiting sugar intake in meals we can send a strong message to the new parents who don't have any experience in parenting about sugar impact in their kids Life

When I worked in the school cafeteria it wasn't very nutricious.  The Healthy foods that they provide are blaaa.  no wonder that the kids don't eat it.  China serves very enticing and nutricious.  The schools need to find people who are able to think outside the box.

Many collegies have culinary arts.  They should be able to come up with something new.  They could then privide to the Department of Education so that schools that are not close enough can access healthy food options.

There could be an ongoing contest for people to submit recipees that will feed 250 kids with appropriate portions.  The kids would need to like it.  They could even vote for the best recipee.  The recipees should not be too complicated

There are schools who serve a lot of prepackaged food.  Especially for field trips.  How do we get these producers to join the movement and help the school and not over charge. You know how healthey that TV dinner is.  Sugar and salt are what provide the flavor of the food.  They would have to overhaul the indistry. 

Encourage the schools to have the students grow their own fruit and vegtables.  When the put the work in to grow it they are more likely to eat it.  The regulations are nearly impossible to allow the kids to eat their own produce.  A few schools have run the gauntlet and cut the red tape and are able to serve their garden's food.

There needs to be an overhaul of the school food merchandise.  They need to work with groups of schools to be able to do the paperwork that is needed for the kids safety while not overloading the schools.  It is frequently to costly and hard to find the good stuff so they continue to serve what they have always served.  The fresh fruit and vegtables have to go through so many verifications between thed Dept of Ed and Health Dept section that oversees food distribution health.  

We have children who have lost all of their teeth and getting aquired diabetes becase we crank sugar into them and nave no national dental or medical care.  Congestive Heart disease used to be a rare disorder of those at advanced ages, not has been growing more common and at yourger ages for DECADES because we crank SALT into every processed and packaged (and fast) food.  School lunches are an obvious start, but we really need to control those factors in ALL foods EVERYWHERE!    

One doesn't need to cater to so called children's tastes, when one gets children involved with their food, their tastes expands. I've done this in my own garden. I created a neighborhood children front yard garden so they learn where food comes from. When they become involved in growing  their own, they are much more invested in eating it. I based it on this project from chef Alice waters:

https://edibleschoolyard.org/

Anybody with kids knows the hardest thing to do with them is getting them to eat what's good for them(that includes adults, but that's another discussion...). Simply offering healthy, nutricious school meals won't get the kids to eat them; the REAL trick is making something they like AND making it healthy; breaking that barrier would actually help everyone. And I know this isn't a new idea(actually quite old) but still a worthwhile goal.

Common sense good health decisions don't stop at the schoolhouse door.

healthy school meals were an Obama endeaver. What happened to it?

Many children receive 2 meals at school so need is there to make them as healthy as possible. Education to their parents or guardians should be required so the home meals will be as well.

Why is trying to keep out kids healthy a political issue? It should be in everyone's interests.

Strong Suggestion:

Better funding for school food services.

Hire chefs who know how to cook for children. Give nutritionist a certain amount of input.

Michelle Obama tried this and the Repuglycans had their knickers in a twist. Hopefully this will become a reality and our children can again be served healthy meals.

Giving children a healthy diet high in protein and fat and low in carbs would be a MAJOR game changer. We might actually see happier, more emotionally balanced kiddos who can manage their lives more effectively... ABSOLUTELY cut out the sugar and reduce salt

Good idea?

Hahaha!  Probably more school lunches will wind up in the trash.

Let's be mindful of children's palates and their preferences. 

The child is a good place to start. Then follow thru with limits on all sweeteners slipped into our foods. It has been increasingly more difficult to find foodstuffs without or limited sweeteners not just sugar all the fructose and other ones the food industry feeds us to increase appetites.