Published: March 2020

ID #: 1116

See more related research

Share


More than 21.8 million school-age children receive free or reduced-price school lunch and 12.6 million children receive free or reduced-price breakfast each day. Since updated nutrition standards for school meals, snack foods, and beverages have been implemented following passage of the 2010 Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act, a growing body of evidence shows their effectiveness in improving the nutritional quality of foods served and sold at schools, and in increasing school meal participation rates. In January 2020, USDA proposed several reforms to these school nutrition standards. In an effort to inform the USDA as it considers these latest program changes, and to better understand how the proposed reforms may impact the nutritional quality of school meals, school meal participation, student consumption and health, and academic performance, Healthy Eating Research conducted a rapid Health Impact Assessment (HIA) of the nutrition provisions in USDA, FNS Proposed Rule 7 CFR Parts 210, 215, 220, 226, and 235: Simplifying Meal Service and Monitoring Requirements in the School Lunch and School Breakfast Programs. This HIA finds that the proposed changes would adversely affect student’s health and academic performance, and that students from low-income families attending schools in African-American and rural neighborhoods are most likely to be impacted by the proposed changes.

Find the full Health Impact Assessment here.

Related Research

March 2020

2020 Rapid Health Impact Assessment on USDA Proposed Changes to School Nutrition Standards

More than 21.8 million school-age children receive free or reduced-price school lunch and 12.6 million children receive free or reduced-price breakfast each day. Since updated nutrition standards for school meals, snack foods, and beverages have been implemented following passage of the 2010 Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act, a growing body of evidence shows their effectiveness in More

June 2024

CACFP Family Childcare Home Sponsor Perspectives – Serious Deficiency Challenges

The federal Child and Adult Care Food Program, commonly known as CACFP, ensures over 4.2 million children, mostly in families with low income, receive nutritious meals and snacks in childcare. However, not all qualifying childcare providers participate in this beneficial program. Research suggests that the serious deficiency process, designed to ensure program integrity, may hinder More

April 2024

Mixed methods evaluation of the COVID-19 changes to the WIC cash-value benefit for fruits and vegetables

Recent cash-value benefit (CVB) increases are a positive development to help increase WIC participant fruits and vegetables (FV) access. This mixed method study aimed to evaluate (a) the CVB changes’ impact on FV access among WIC child participants measured by CVB redemption rates, (b) facilitators and barriers to CVB changes’ implementation, and (c) differences in More