Oranges are one of the menu choices in the Lakeview Middle School cafeteria.The nation’s students can expect to see more fruits and vegetables in their school lunches under new federal guidelines aimed at adding more nutrition to their diets.
The regulations shouldn’t be a shock to schools and students in Northwest Georgia, which adopted similar guidelines in 2004 under a multidistrict nutrition program called Pyramid Partners.
“We voluntarily changed to something very similar to what the federal regulations turned out to be,” said Phyllis Oliver, nutrition director for both the Chickamauga City Schools and the Chattooga County school system.
U.S. students this year will see more varieties of vegetables, fruits and salads than at any time since federally subsidized lunch programs began in the 1940s, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.
Under the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s new standards, which became effective July 1, calorie limits also are set for meals, according to The Associated Press.