New bill in congress to change school meal standards

La Crosse meal supervisor says
kids don’t know portion sizes

For many families, it looks like Washington D.C., meddling with what people like to eat. Federal standards, however, for school nutrition are aimed at helping children learn how to eat healthy.

Lyn Halvorson is the school meal supervisor in the La Crosse School District. She says Americans don’t seem to be aware of what amounts of certain foods are good for them, so they tend to eat bigger portions than they need. 

“I don’t think people really have a sense in their mind what normal portion sizes are for things,” Halvorson said. “Like, fruits and vegetables, it’s half a cup. Most of the time when you sit down in a restaurant, they probably give you two to three times that.”

Congress is considering a new bill to change the standards for meals in school, especially easing requirements for serving whole grains and cutting back on sodium.

Halvorson describes what the federal guidelines are designed to encourage.

“Eating more whole grain, eating more fruits and vegetables, eating lean meat,” Halvorson said, “restricting your intake of saturated fats, trans. fats, dietary cholesterol, salts. Those are kind of the umbrella.”

The newest compromise bill before Congress would allow schools to reduce the amount of whole grains they serve and delay greater restrictions on sodium.