Less than three months after receiving
hundreds of thousands of public comments on the proposed nutrition standards for competitive foods and beverages in schools, the U.S. Department of Agriculture has released an
interim final rule to finalize those nutrition standards. And these standards keep dairy in a strong position as competitive products in schools.
Milk and dairy products are specifically allowed as competitive foods, which are foods and beverages sold at schools during the school day but not as part of the reimbursable school breakfast or lunch. This list could include yogurt parfaits, ice cream sandwiches or milk sold individually.
The rule set nutritional limits set for saturated fat, trans fat, total sugars and calories, but these limits will still allow for a wide range of dairy products to be available to school children. A brief summary chart is available
here.
Several dairy products, both standardized and non-standardized, will be able to be available in schools when the nutrition rules go into effect for the 2014-2015 school year, including:
- Low-fat or fat-free unflavored milk;
- Fat-free flavored milk;
- Reduced-fat cheese snacks, including part skim mozzarella cheese;
- Low-fat ice cream novelties;
- Frozen dairy desserts;
- Frozen fruit juice bars;
- Low-fat yogurt; and
- Cultured dairy snacks.
The interim final rule also clarified that non-nutritive sweeteners are allowed by the USDA rule, although schools could set stricter standards. USDA will accept comments on the interim rule through October 28, 2013.
View the USDA infographic here.
