Meal Pattern Guidelines

USDA Meal Pattern Changes

How will these affect our School Lunch Program?

The Food Service Department is pleased to announce that in an effort to continually improve the, quality of lunches we serve our students, we will begin adopting the newest USDA nutrition standards for our school meals. This will include an increase in the availability of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and fat-free and low-fat fluid milk in our meals; a reduction in the levels of sodium, saturated fat and trans fat in meals; and meet the nutrition needs of school children within their calorie requirements.

Our goal is to enhance the diet and health of school children, help mitigate the childhood obesity trend, and support learning by promoting healthy habits that will last a lifeti

National School Lunch Program Meal Pattern

Food Group	Old Requirements	New Requirements
Fruit	1/4-3/4 cup of fruit or vegetables combined per day	3/4 - 1 cup of vegetables per day
Vegetables	1/4-3/4 cup of fruit or vegetables combined per day	1/2 - 1 cup of fruit per day (Dark green vegetables, red/orange vegetables, beans/peas, starchy vegetables; other vegetables as defined in 2010 Dietary Guidelines)
Meat/Meat Alternate	2 oz equivalent daily	2 oz equivalent daily (no fried foods)
Whole Grains	8 servings per week (2 oz grain equivalent serving per day)	Whole wheat roll, whole wheat loaf bread, whole wheat hamburger bun, whole wheat hot dog bun, whole grain cereal
Milk	1 cup Variety of fat contents allowed; flavored not restricted	1 cup daily: Fat Free Chocolate, Fat Free White, Fat Free Strawberry, Fat Free Vanilla, Skim Unflavored