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Marlene B. Schwartz. 1 Rudd Center for Food Policy & Obesity, University of Connecticut, Hartford, CT.
Kathryn E. Henderson. 2 Henderson Consulting, Guilford, CT.
Margaret Read. 1 Rudd Center for Food Policy & Obesity, University of Connecticut, Hartford, CT.
Nicole Danna. 3 School of Public Policy, University of California Berkeley, Berkeley, CA.
Jeannette R. Ickovics. 4 Community Alliance for Research and Engagement, Yale University, New Haven, CT.
© Marlene B. Schwartz, Kathryn E. Henderson, Margaret Read, Nicole Danna, and Jeannette R. Ickovics, 2015; Published by Mary Ann Liebert, Inc. This Open Access article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly credited.
Address correspondence to: Marlene B. Schwartz, PhD, Director, Rudd Center for Food Policy & Obesity, University of Connecticut, One Constitution Plaza, Suite 600, Hartford, CT 06103, E-mail: [email protected]
Introduction
The National School Lunch Program (NSLP) provides subsidized meals to more than 30 million children every day.1 Established in 1946, the NSLP has always required all lunches to meet minimum research-based nutritional requirements.2 In recent years, studies of the diets of American children and adolescents have consistently demonstrated the need for an increase in consumption of fruit, vegetables, and whole grains and a decrease in sodium and empty calories from solid fats and added sugars. 3,4 In response, the federal government took action to update the nutrition requirements of school meals. The Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010 required the USDA to issue regulations to align school meal standards with the 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans.
The USDA released the proposed rule in January 2011.5 Recommended changes included an increase in whole grains, new calorie limits by age group, and a reduction in sodium. Another change was to consider fruits and vegetables two different food categories, require different types of vegetables to be served each week, and increase produce serving sizes. These changes are consistent with research documenting that people consume more when presented with variety and larger portions. 6-8 The 1981 policy called "Offer vs. Serve"9 was updated to address the problem that students do not consume recommended levels of fruits and vegetables. Instead of requiring students to...