New school lunch regulations draw mixed reaction among parents and health professionals

Julie Baudo is giving her sons school lunches some serious food for thought. “Healthy children grow up to be healthy adults,” she said standing in her kitchen, making her son’s sandwich.

Sons Jonathan and Jacob are in the West Seneca Central School District and rarely do they buy lunch from the school cafeteria. “I would say about 95% of the time my kids bring their lunch.”

Julie feels school meals could always be healthier. But, that's not the primary reason she chooses to pack her sons' lunches every day. “They're more apt to eat it, and consume it and not waste it because there's a lot of food waste in this country.”

Waste is one of the reason's the Trump Administration is rolling back nutritional regulations put in place by the Obama administration. The current administration argues kids weren't eating federally subsidized meals because they didn't taste good. So, schools won't have to cut the salt in kids' meals just yet. And they can skip the whole grains and replace the non-fat milk with 1 percent.
Registered dietician Emily Wood thinks the roll backs are a step in the wrong direction. “With the way that society is going now, I feel like there is a bigger push for nutrition wellness. Why are we going backwards in the schools? It doesn't make any sense.”

Other dietitians said they don't mind the changes. But, that's because they believe the government has bigger fish to fry where school nutrition is concerned.  They think the government needs to focus on serving real food instead of processed food in schools across the country.