Latest School meal Stories

Project Bread's Healthy School Food Initiative Paves the Way for the New USDA Guidelines for School Meals BOSTON, Jan. 20, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- When USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack presented updated guidelines for school meals as part of the "Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010," the Board and staff members at Project Bread gave him a standing ovation. The proposed changes, which include more fruits, vegetables, and whole grains, are especially important for the state's low-income...

Nu-Tek Salt offers solutions to food processors who need to reduce sodium in their food product due to the proposal by the USDA. This proposal will dramatically change the school lunch nutritional standards for sodium over the next 10 years. Hopkins, MN (PRWEB) January 14, 2011 -Nu-Tek Salt has innovative solutions to reduced sodium content for processors for the School lunch program. They have a patent pending technology that can help the food processor reduce sodium levels for school...

GAITHERSBURG, Md., Dec. 15, 2010 /PRNewswire/ -- Nutrition provider Sodexo partnered with Chicago's Namaste Charter School to earn the first Sodexo-served school Gold Award of Distinction certification in the United States Department of Agriculture's HealthierUS School Challenge, the highest ranking possible in the program designed to promote good nutrition and physical activity. Namaste Charter School used its Healthy Lifestyles Program, an initiative that fosters student achievement by...

WASHINGTON, Dec. 13, 2010 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Speaker Nancy Pelosi released the following statement today after she attended a ceremony this morning where President Obama signed the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act. This bipartisan legislation will improve the quality of meals students eat at school, increase the number of healthy meals available to needy children, and provide the first real boost in the federal reimbursement rate for school lunches in more than 30 years: "The Healthy,...

President Barack Obama off on a new bill today that will provide more lunches and dinners to school children and to make those meals healthier. He told an elementary school in the District of Columbia that the legislation is about doing what is right for America's children and helping them reach their full potential.  He applauded bipartisan lawmakers for passing the bill, adding that it shows that both parties can agree on issues that matter for the future of children and the future of...

On Thursday, the House of Representatives approved legislation that will expand the nation's school lunch program while making meals healthier, various media outlets are reporting.According to the AFP, "The bill pledges 4.5 billion dollars over 10 years to child nutrition programs, increases the reimbursement paid to schools by the federal government for free meals provided to children, and expands access to school lunches and after-school meals.""It also allows the US...

Legislation will expand programs and access to nutritious food for millions of children CHICAGO Dec. 2, 2010 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Greater Chicago Food Depository applauded Congress' passage of the Child Nutrition Reauthorization today. The bill will reauthorize child nutrition programs for five years and includes an additional $4.5 billion in funding for school meal programs over 10 years. For Chicago, the bill will help to improve the quality of school meals while helping...

Senate Child Nutrition Bill a Step Forward but Congress Must Do More to Help Schools Fight Obesity with Healthy Vegetarian Options WASHINGTON, Dec. 2, 2010 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- As Congress finalizes child nutrition reauthorization legislation, doctors with the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM) are urging lawmakers and President Obama to find additional ways to reduce fat and cholesterol in school lunches and give every child access to healthy vegetarian meals....

School lunch programs could help reverse the negative effects of food scarcity on the academic performance of teens, according to a new study published Monday.The researchers said the government food-assistance programs could help break the cycle of poverty in which poor children go hungry, receive poor grades, don't advance to college and fail to escape their socioeconomic status, which results in their children repeating the cycle."Food insecurity is more problematic in the long term...

High-calorie beverages not allowed by national guidelines are still available in a majority of U.S. elementary schools, according to a report posted online today that will appear in the March 2011 print issue of Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals."The U.S. Department of Agriculture National School Lunch Program has a broad reach, serving meals to more than 31 million students in 2008," the authors write as background information in...