By

Monica DyBuncio /

CBS News/ January 25, 2012, 5:00 PM

USDA school lunch changes: What's on the menu?

The new guidelines suggest that tofu be offered as a meat alternative.

Thursday:

Before:

  • Breaded beef patty (4 oz) with ketchup (2 tbsp.)
  • Wheat roll (2 oz)
  • Frozen fruit juice bar (2.4 oz)
  • 2 percent milk (8 oz)


After:

  • Oven-baked fish nuggets (2 oz)
  • Whole wheat roll
  • Mashed potatoes (1/2 cup)
  • Steamed broccoli (1/2 cup)
  • Peaches (canned, packed in juice - 1/2 cup)
  • Skim milk (8 oz)
  • Tartar sauce (1.5 oz)
  • Soft margarine (5 g)
7 Comments Add a Comment
linkicon reporticon emailicon
GMCoquilleValleyHigh says:
I am a high school student. Our lunch consists of the greasiest, smallest, most disgusting pitiful excuse for food. My sister got a chicken strip basket that had a piddly little strip the length of my index finger with a dozen soggy sweet potato fries. I can't get cheese on my burger because it's too much protein. We are growing children that need a plentiful amount of food to stay energized and not falling asleep in class. I'm in seventh period right now and my stomach is growling. Yes, i can bring my own lunch, but if my sister and i did that every day we wouldn't have any food to eat. The amount of food has decreased. So i still get the nasty greasy chicken, just not enough to fill me up. If the government or the First Lady cared so much about our health then we should be eating fresh chicken salad with iced tea, not half an ounce of frozen processed chicken and some more frozen soggy french fries.
reply
linkicon reporticon emailicon
shami102 says:
If parents would actually look into what the schools are doing with their lunches and activities they have, you would actually see what the problem is. It is not the food they serve or the amounts they are serving. I have been to the schools on several occasions the food tastes okay, the servings are, in my opinion, just right for children. Don't get me wrong, I'm all for a healthy diet for my children, as well as other children. The problem is this: Kids DO NOT have P.E. every day. They have it every other day and it's only 30 minutes long. That's why there are so many obese children and children with ADHD and ADD that can't focus. This is a problem I have found to be true. America should be looking into this and not just changing the lunch menus.
reply
linkicon reporticon emailicon
Eric_Starson says:
Improving the diets of our kids might actually help prevent premature puberty:
http://nutritionfacts.org/videos/protein-puberty/
reply
linkicon reporticon emailicon
Nate650 says:
I see a bunch of low-fat this and low-fat that. Unfortunately, low-fat doesn't necessarily mean healthy. In fact, usually the low-fat variety of a food is less healthy than its full-fat counterpart because processed ingredients and refined sugar are added to make up for the loss in flavor. Instead of relying on the outdated conventional wisdom of a low-fat diet, why not focus more on wholesome unprocessed ingredients free from artificial preservatives, flavors, and colors, refined vegetable oils, trans fats, etc.? This will have a greater impact than focusing on fat and calorie counts.
reply
linkicon reporticon emailicon
AnnaMmmmmm says:
The idea that there is some reason not to provide more nutritious lunches is ridiculous. The real story is that fresh fruits and vegetables cost far more than a heavily carbohydrate diet. The nickel per meal increase that will be coming from the federal government is unlikely to cover the real increased cost of providing good food. Those families the qualify for free meals will be unaffected, but the rest will likely see serious increases to their hot lunch bills. I guess packing a lunch is still an option.
Also, there's a serious hypocrisy in the government preaching for more fruits, vegetables, whole grains when what is available to schools to purchase through government commodities is mostly heavily processed foods of the chicken nuggets variety.
reply
Nate650 replies:
linkicon reporticon emailicon
Well said.
linkicon reporticon emailicon
me1an1e says:
I just watched the story on CBS this morning about school lunches being improved and it was cloaked in the republican talking points of "anti-nanny" state "anti-govt" and how it's not up to the govt to decide what kids eat, it's up to the parents. The government isn't going into your home and determining what you serve, the First Lady has worked to improve the govt subsidized lunch, at govt public schools, if the media is going to carry this meme then they need to ask if the republicans are proposing ending public school lunches and requiring all parents pack a bag lunch? If it's up to the parents to decide what the child eats for lunch, how does that happen? Parents are not typically at schools, they are not going through the lunch line with their kids. Republicans and Democrats alike complained under W about the poor quality of school lunch and about how our kids are getting fat, but, now that a democratic admn actually does something instead of just sounding off on tv about it, it's a nanny state? Come on! If the govt is feeding our children they should provide decent, healthy food.
reply
Scroll Left Scroll Right