Nutrition standards changing for schools across the U.S. [Video]

On Wednesday, United States Department of Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack updated nutrition standards for school meals. This will impact schools all across the country. Changes include requirements to reduce the amount of sugar and sodium in school meals while incorporating more of things like milk, whole grains and foods that will better support a student’s dietary preferences. Meghan Maroney, the campaign manager for federal child nutrition programs at the Center for Science in the Public Interest, explained that most students in America are not consuming safe levels of sodium or added sugars. She also said that children without consistent access to nutrition are at higher risk for diet-related chronic disease.These changes will start to be phased in throughout the 2025-2026 school year and will have to be met by the fall of 2027. “It’s going to be hard work,” Maroney said. “The industry is going to have to reformulate. Schools …