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Oct 16, 2024

New school lunch sugar rules are a 'mixed bag' to the sugar industry - Agweek | #1 source for agriculture news, farming, markets

During the next few years the U.S. Department of Agriculture plans to limit the amount of added sugars that are in school meals. The change is part of the agency’s continued effort to make school

During the next few years the U.S. Department of Agriculture plans to limit the amount of added sugars that are in school meals.

The change is part of the agency’s continued effort to make school lunches and other USDA child nutrition programs healthier, USDA said in a news release. The rule to limit added sugars was one of several related to school meal programs that became effective July 1, 2024.

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The U.S. Food and Drug Administration defines added sugar as sugars, such as sucrose or dextrose, that are added during food processing, foods, such as table sugars, that are packaged as sweeteners, sugars from syrup and honey, and sugars from concentrated fruit and vegetable juices.

The added sugars do not include the sugars in milk, fruits and vegetables that occur naturally.

Courtney Gaine, a registered dietician who is president of the Sugar Association — which describes itself as the scientific voice of the U.S. sugar industry and supports scientific research and shares knowledge the role of sugar in the diet — called the change in the USDA school lunch rules addressing added sugars a ”mixed bag.”

She applauded USDA’s commitment to make school lunches healthier but expressed concern about how meals would be reformulated to meet the requirements to reduce added sugars.

Managers of the school lunch programs will need to find a way to continue to make their foods palatable while reducing the sugar, which may result in reformulating them to include low- and no-calorie sweeteners, which Gaine does not believe is a healthy alternative to added sugars.

“When you put a limit of 6 grams of cereal on added sugars and there’s 8 grams of sugar, that will come from somewhere else,” Gaine said, noting that will also occur with yogurt and flavored milk.

Tens of thousands of people commented on added sugars, most of them in support of reducing them to improve child health and academic performance, USDA said.

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Gaine is concerned that USDA didn’t put a limit on the use of low- and no-calorie sweeteners, which she doesn’t believe are healthy alternatives to added sugars.

The USDA defers to the FDA, which the former says has more expertise on the safety of added sweeteners in children’s food, USDA said in the news release.

However, the American Academy of Pediatrics has been critical of the addition of low and no-calorie sweeteners to children’s foods, Gaine said.

“Recent research suggests possible links between nonnutritive sweeteners and changes in appetite and taste preferences in children. This, in turn, could affect weight and health. Other research is looking into whether these sweeteners cause changes in the gut microbiome ― which is made up of 'friendly' bacteria — and may affect blood sugar levels and lead to metabolic syndrome, insulin resistance and diabetes,” says the American Academy of Pediatrics healthychildren.org website .

The new USDA rules for school meals gradually will be implemented and the managers of the Child Nutrition programs are not required to change their menus until at least the 2025-2026 school year, USDA said.

Now there are no added sugars limits in the school meal programs, which means that schools may choose to serve some menu items and meals that contain a high amount of added sugar if they meet weekly calorie limits.

Under the rule that takes effect for the 2025-26 school year, beginning July 1, 2025, the following changes will be made:

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By the 2027-2028 school years, which begins July 1, 2027, a final rule will be added to those rules, which will establish a dietary guideline that limits added sugars to fewer than 10% of the calories across the week in the school lunch and breakfast programs.

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