Focus at Four: New USDA regulations to make changes to school lunches
BRYAN, Texas (KBTX) – Schools across the nation will be making changes to their cafeteria menu soon.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced new nutrition standards, including limiting added sugars for the first time ever, and reducing sodium. This is all to improve nutrition and align with dietary guidelines.
Sandra Baxter, the Assistant Director of School Nutrition Services at Bryan ISD said the district will comply with these new regulations through help from technology.
“There is sort of a strategic plan of a calendar and when each one of these deadlines must be met. We look at the foods that we are offering so that we can be sure to meet those deadlines. We have nutrient analysis software that we are plugging all of our product information into and all of our recipes in. And so we use that to help us know if we’re meeting those standards,” she said.
Baxter also said most of the training for the new regulations happens on a menu planner level, but cafeteria staff would also be trained if needed.
“If there is going to be a change in the way that we prepare the meal, if we’re using updated recipes, then we would do specific hands-on training that would talk about those recipes,” she said.
For more information about Bryan ISD nutrition, click here.
Click here for the article on the USDA regulation changes.
