New School Nutrition Regulations

On January 25th, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) released the final rule, "Nutrition Standards in the National School Lunch and School Breakfast Programs." The rule seeks to update school meal standards as required by the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act (HHFKA), which was signed into law on December 13, 2010. The rule is effective 60 days from publication in the Federal Register (January 26, 2012), but several of the requirements in the rule have staggered implementation deadlines. USDA estimates implementation of the new meal requirements will cost $3.2 billion over the next five years.

A number of resources are available:

• Read an overview of the rule
• Questions & Answers on the rule
• Implementation timeline
• Dietary specs
• A comparison of the current vs. new regulations