New School Meal Standards Reduce Sugar in Years Ahead

Nutrition standards for meals in South Durham schools should see less sugar and more flexibility with menu planning between Fall 2025 and 2027 due to steps taken by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Tom Vilsack, secretary of the USDA, announced changes this week after the department heard public feedback and considered science-based recommendations from the Dietary Guidelines for Americans.

“We all share the goal of helping children reach their full potential,” Vilsack said in a news release. “Like teachers, classrooms, books, and computers, nutritious school meals are an essential part of the school environment, and when we raise the bar for school meals, it empowers our kids to achieve greater success inside and outside of the classroom. Expanding on this major milestone, the Biden-Harris Administration will continue to partner with schools, districts, states, and industry to build on the extraordinary progress made to strengthen school meals.”

Updates to the nutrition standards, which should support healthier children, include:

• Added Sugars: For the first time, the USDA will limit added sugars in school meals. Small changes are expected in Fall 2025. Full implementation should be in Fall 2027. USDA heard from parents and teachers worried about sugars commonly found in school breakfast items.
• Milk: Schools can offer flavored and unflavored milk that provide calcium, vitamin D, and potassium. However, added sugars will be limited in flavored milk. Many school milk processors (representing more than 90% of the school milk volume nationwide) already committed to providing milk that meets this limit.
• Sodium: The USDA is requiring only one sodium reduction by Fall 2027, rather than three incremental sodium reductions proposed last year.
• Whole grains: No changes to current nutrition standards for whole grains.
• Supporting Other Food Preferences: Starting in Fall 2024, it’ll be easier for schools to serve protein-rich breakfast foods like yogurt, tofu, eggs, nuts, and seeds.
• Supporting Local Food Purchases: Also starting this fall, schools can require unprocessed agricultural products to be locally grown, raised, or caught when making purchases for school meal programs.

Also, in Fall 2025, schools will have limits on the percentage of non-domestic grown and produced foods they can purchase.