School food in this country, despite the many improvements we have made over the years, still has a long way to go to become healthy.

There is still too much sugar on the tray, and not enough fresh fruits and vegetables. We need to tell the USDA to limit the amount of added sugar allowed. (Getting rid of artificial color would be a good idea too!)

For instance, a typical school breakfast might contain one carton of low-fat chocolate milk and a box of sugary cereal like Lucky Charms, or Frozen French Toast with Pancake Syrup, made from corn syrup. This alone contains an entire day’s worth of added sugars for a young child, and they still have the rest of the day to go!  Added sugars include cane sugar, high fructose syrup, and other forms of sugars that are included in packaged foods by manufacturers, as opposed to the naturally occurring sugars that are found in milk, fruits, and vegetables. For children, too much consumption is associated with weight gain, dental decay, and an increase in risk factors for cardiovascular disease.

Nine out of ten schools exceeds the Dietary Guidelines for Americans limit for breakfast, and nearly seven out of ten exceed it for lunch, and the Guidelines are not based on a child’s weight, they are based on a 200 lb man!

Please tell the USDA to cut the sugar from school meals!

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