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Agriculture Department Lowers Nutritional Standards for School Lunches
As the Republicans and the Trump administration continues their assault on anything that the Obama administration did, Secretary Sonny Perdue has set his sights on school lunches.
The Trump administration has loosened nutritional standards aimed at making US school lunches healthier that were championed by former first lady Michelle Obama.
New Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue postponed reductions in sodium, relaxed requirements for whole grains and allowed sweetened flavoured milk back.
One in five US children is obese, the US government says.
The Agriculture Secretary justified the move with vague claims of federal overreach and arguing that lower sodium and un-flavored milk won't be eaten by students, resulting in increased food waste. Neither claim is compelling. The standards only apply to those schools taking federal dollars for school-lunch programs, making claims of federal overreach oddly dissonant. With regard to school chidren not eating healthier school lunch items, 2 major studies from the past few years found that new standards for low-income students both improves diet and actually decreases food waste.