Strong nutrition standards for school meals, consistent with evidence-based recommendations, position children for optimal health and wellbeing. Strong science supports the link between lowering sodium intake and better health. This new issue brief from Healthy Eating Research examines the recent history of sodium standards for school meals. It highlights current sodium intake among America’s children and School Nutrition Meal Cost Study (SNMCS) findings about sodium content of school meals. The SNMCS examined sodium levels in school meals based on data from nationally representative samples of public school food authorities, schools, and students in school year 2014-2015. Findings indicate that there has been major progress in reducing the sodium content of school meals, but more progress is needed and attempts to weaken sodium standards compromise the health of children across the country.
Published: September 2020
Publisher: Healthy Eating Research
Authors: Callahan E
Age Groups: Adolescents (grades 9 to 12), Elementary-age children (grades K to 5), Young adolescents (grades 6 to 8)
Focus Areas: Diet Quality & Healthy Weight, School & After School
State: National
Resource Type: Research Brief
Keyword: School meal programs
Related Research
August 2025
Diet Quality and Weight Status are Predicted by Federal Nutrition Assistance Program Participation, Health, and Demographics
This study investigated whether demographic, social, and economic determinants of health, including length of time participating in safety net programs, are associated with diet quality and weight status in early childhood. Using the WIC infant and toddler feeding practices study-2, classification and regression tree identified the sequence of binary splits that best differentiated the sample MoreAugust 2025
Universal Free School Meal Policies and Participation in the US National School Meal Programs
This study aimed to examine the impact of federal- and state-level Universal Free School Meal (UFSM) policies and related policies on National School Lunch Program (NSLP) and School Breakfast Program (SBP) participation rates during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. This comparative effectiveness research study used a natural experiment created by the COVID-19 pandemic to analyze MoreNovember 2024