New School Lunches Ahead?
publichealth.jhu.edu

... More than 30 million children depend on the National School Lunch Program for a free or low-cost nutritious meal. These lunches are designed to meet U.S. Department of Agriculture nutrition standards and align with the Dietary Guidelines for Americans (DGAs).

But new guidelines, Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2025"2030, released last month by the Department of Health and Human Services and USDA, may pose challenges to the precise work of school meal planning. Experts say that they lack clarity and make recommendations that many school cafeterias will find difficult to deliver on.

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New Guidelines' Lack of Clarity

Julia Wolfson, PhD '16, MPP, an associate professor in International Health, notes that the new DGAs could present challenges for large-scale federal food programs like the National School Lunch Program and other food programs for children, adults, and seniors. They are "much shorter and less detailed than prior versions, and they are also contradictory and inconsistent," Wolfson says.

The new dietary guidelines comprise 10 pages and make recommendations in broad terms with few details. For example, a recommendation to replace highly processed foods with "nutrient-dense food and home-prepared meals," includes no specifics on food types or meals.

There's a suggestion to "eat a variety of colorful, nutrient-dense vegetables and fruits," yet no examples.

The 2020"2025 guidelines, on the other hand, number 142 pages and break down calorie needs across the lifespan, set out measured food portions, and give examples of nutrient-dense and non-nutrient dense foods. USDA school meal "patterns," aligned with the DGAs, are grouped in categories like dark green vegetables; red and orange vegetables; and beans, peas, and lentils; and include minimum and maximum calories by grade level.

"The lack of specificity could be confusing and have implications for various [federal] programs that are supposed to comply with the dietary guidelines," says Wolfson. ...

(as an aside, jhu.edu is Johns Hopkins University)