The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) issued proposed guidelines for public school lunches last Tuesday that are intended to make meals healthier, but the move could prove difficult to implement for school districts with staff shortages.
The guidelines call for reducing sodium by 30% by 2029, reducing added sugar to less than 10% of total calories by 2027, and phasing out flavored milk in elementary schools by 2025.
As explained by the Healthy Schools campaign, “Healthy meals support schools’ core mission of education, especially when it comes to boosting students’ concentration, focus and cognitive function. A vast body of research shows that improved nutrition in schools leads to increased focus and attention, improved test scores and better classroom behavior.”
Additionally, the campaign notes that “Nutritious school food helps students develop lifelong healthy eating habits” and “contributes to a culture of wellness at school, reinforcing nutrition education messages from teachers.”
The USDA’s latest move could help reverse the trend of skyrocketing childhood obesity across the country, a trend especially pronounced in Texas. Increases in childhood obesity recently prompted the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to update its body mass index (BMI) growth charts, as previously reported in The Dallas Express.
While the new food guidelines are expected to have positive health outcomes, some school districts claim that they currently do not have the cafeteria staff to handle cooking according to the guidelines, much less the vendors to source compliant foods.
“Staffing is a huge issue for school meal programs, and it will impact their capacity to meet additional nutrition standards,” said Diane Pratt-Heavner, a spokesperson for the School Nutrition Association, speaking with USA Today.
It is unclear whether such problems will hamstring local school districts, but it would not be the first time school lunches at some North Texas school districts cooked up controversy because of what they were serving.
As previously reported in The Dallas Express, the Dallas Independent School District (DISD) was accused of serving spoiled food at some of its campuses.
“It’s a shame that I have to instruct my child to go through their breakfast and their lunch as if it’s Halloween candy to look for molded items,” Randall Bryant told WFAA in May.
The issue likely factored into respondents’ answers to a poll conducted by The Dallas Express that found nearly 50% believed the district suffers from mismanagement.
Another food quality ordeal occurred at Grand Prairie Independent School District (GPISD), also covered by The Dallas Express, with reports of students refusing to eat their school lunches because of the poor quality of the food being served.
“It’s outrageous,” said Edgar Suarez, speaking with CBS 11. “If you’re hungry, you’re not going to concentrate. You’re going to be thinking of what you want to eat when you get home.”
The Dallas Express reached out to DISD, GPISD, and the Fort Worth Independent School District and asked them whether they were in a position to handle the guidelines if implemented.
GPISD neglected to respond.
A spokesperson for DISD said that the district supports the guidelines and that the main elements at play (flavored milk, sugar reductions, and sodium reductions) could be handled with existing staff, noting that DISD is already introducing more “home-cooked meals” to its cafeteria lineup.
For its part, Fort Worth ISD stated:
“The Fort Worth ISD currently operates in compliance with all USDA nutrition requirements and has all operating procedures already in place to respond to any changes in nutrition guidelines. Dieticians take the lead in ensuring a variety of healthy foods served at every campus.”
