First Time In 15 Years U.S. Public School Menus With Higher Healthier Nutrition Standards
March 20, 2012 Kyriaki (Sandy) Venetis Over hauling a national school diet of mostly greasy, over-processed foods with little nutritional value, First Lady Michelle Obama and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack have unveiled new healthier meal requirements that will raise nutritional standards for the first time in 15 years.
Photo courtesy of the Orlando Sentinel.
“As parents, we try to prepare decent means, limit how much junk food our kids eat, and ensure that they have a reasonably balanced diet. And when we are putting in all that effort the last thing we want is for our hard work to be undone each day in the school cafeteria,” said the first lady.
“When we send our kids to school, we expect that they won’t be eating the kind of fatty, salty, sugary foods that we try to keep them from at home. We want the food they get at school to be the same kind of food we would serve at our own kitchen tables,” she added.
The new healthier meal requirements – which will start phasing in this summer – are a key component of the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act, which was championed by the first lady as part of her Let’s Move! campaign and signed into law by the president.