The document discusses the history and provisions of the National School Lunch Program and the 2010 Child Nutrition Reauthorization Act. It outlines how the National School Lunch Program was established in 1946 to address issues of national security and nutrition. It then summarizes key aspects of the 2010 Act, including establishing stronger nutrition standards for foods in schools, increasing access to free/reduced price meals, and providing additional funding and support for child nutrition programs. The goal of these programs and reforms is to address problems of childhood hunger, obesity, and promote the overall health of school-aged children.

1. National School Lunch Program and the
Child Nutrition Reauthorization Act
Wendy Thompson, WVU Graduate Dietetic Intern

2. Outline
• History and Background of School Lunches
• Overview of Child Nutrition Legislation
• National School Lunch Program
• Child Nutrition Reauthorization Act
• 2010 Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act
– Components
– The need for improvements
– How it will make improvements
– Nutrition Guidelines
– Financial Eligibility and Reimbursements
• Additional Programs to Reduce Childhood
Obesity

3. National School Lunch Act
• National School Lunch
Act was first created in
1946
– Chief Sponsor:
Richard B. Russell
– Signing President:
Harry S. Truman

4. National School Lunch Act
• Why was the National School Lunch Act was first
designed?

5. National School Lunch Act
• “As a measure of national security to
safeguard the health and well-being of the
Nation’s children”
– Boost nutrition and health from the Great
Depression
– To strengthen potential military recruits
• To boost food prices by utilizing extra products
from the farmers and providing them to the
school

6. Achievements of the National School
Lunch Act
• This act created the National School Lunch
Program
– Provided low cost or free school lunches to
financially qualified students
– The government subsidized the school through
financial reimbursements for those meals
– Prior to 1946, there were still meals served in
schools but it was not standardized, mandated, or
subsidized by the government

7. Overview of Child Nutrition Legislation
• 1946 – National School Lunch Act
• 1966 – Child Nutrition Act (Breakfast Program)
• 1968 – Summer Lunch Program
• 1975 – Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP)
• 1980 – Dietary Guidelines Americans
• 1996 – Schools were required to comply with Dietary
Guidelines
• 1998 – After School Snack Program
• 2002 – Farm Act Fruit/Veggie Pilot
• 2004 – Child Nutrition & WIC Reauthorization Act
• 2010 – Child Nutrition Reauthorization Act (CNRA)

8. NSLP Growth
• 1947: 7.1 million children
• 1970: 22 million children
• 1980: 27 million children
• 2011: 31.8 million children
• Total: Since the modern program began, more
than 224 billion total lunches have been
served

9. About the National School Lunch
Program Today
• Mission: “promote the health and well-being
of the Nation’s children”
• Used by over 100,000 schools and facilities
• Serves 32 million meals per day
– 5 billion lunches a year
• 94% of ALL schools utilize this program
– 60% of students participate in NSLP
• Free lunch: 49%
• Reduced lunch: 10%

10. Administration
• The National School Lunch Program is
administered by State education agencies,
which operate the program through
agreements with school food authorities
• At the federal level the Food and Nutrition
Services, a branch of the USDA, administer the
program

11. Child Nutrition Reauthorization Act
• The reauthorization serves as an opportunity to review and
make changes in the statutes and happens every four to
five years
• Congress must reauthorize the federal child nutrition
programs such as:
– National School Lunch Program (NSLP)
– School Breakfast Program
– Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP)
– Summer Food Service Program (SFSP)
– Afterschool Snack and Meal Program
– Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and
Children (WIC)
– WIC Farmers Market Nutrition Program
– Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program
– Special Milk Program

12. Why do we need these programs?
• To help ensure that children from low-income
families have access to enough food to be healthy
and productive.
• Over 31 million children receive meals through the
school lunch program
• Schools are often times on the front lines of our
national challenge to combat childhood obesity and
improve children’s overall health
• Many children receive most, if not all, of their meals
at school

13. Hunger in America
• "Food Hardship” by Food Research and Action
Center (FRAC)
– Showed that nearly 1 in 5 Americans struggle to afford
enough food for themselves and their families
• “Map the Meal Gap” by Feeding America
– This data showed the food insecurity data on the
individual county level
• The results of these publications proved that
hunger and poverty effect every county to a
varying degree

14. Poverty and Food Insecurity
• Child poverty in the U.S. was 21.9% in 2011
– Up from 16.2% in 2000
– This number has consistently increased for the past four
years
• In 2008, 16.7 million children (22.5% of all children)
lived in households that were food insecure
– Up from 12.4 million (16.9%) in 2007
• 12.1 million adults and 5.2 million children lived in
households with very low food security
• Poverty and food insecurity higher for Hispanic and
African-American households than non-Hispanic White
households

15. Obesity
• 1/3 of all US children are overweight or obese
– Tripled since 1980
• If obesity continues to increase at the rate it is
now then
– Over 50% of adults in 39 states could be obese by
2030
– Just 20 years ago, no state had an obesity rate
above 15 percent

16. Complications of Obesity
• Overweight children are more likely to remain
overweight or become obese adults and
develop chronic disease
• Suffer more health problems
• Miss more days of school, and become less
likely to succeed academically
• Increase the cost of health care
• Shorter life expectancies
– Obese boys will lose 11.6 yrs
– Obese girls will lose 14.3 yrs

17. Diabetes and Heart Disease
• Diabetes:
• 32-38% of American children born in 2000 will develop
diabetes in their lifetime
– Lifetime risk of children for Type 2 Diabetes:
• 32.8% for boys
• 38.5% for girls
• Heart disease
– New study shows children having the plaque build up
similar to that of a 45 year old
– 100,000 new cases of coronary heart disease by 2035
directly attributable to childhood obesity epidemic
• Unhealthy diet and physical activity patterns account for at
least 365,000 deaths among adults in the United States each
year

18. 2010 Child Nutrition Legislation
• The Healthy Hunger Free Kids Act of 2010,
which is often referred to as the child nutrition
reauthorization bill for short, was:
– Written by Agriculture Committee Chairman,
Blanche Lincoln
– Passed by the Senate on August 5th, 2010
– Passed by the House on December 2nd, 2010
– Signed into law on December 13th, 2010 by
President Obama

19. Who should be involved with
childhood nutrition programs?
• Community
– HHFKA requires more community participation
• Parents
• Students
• Representatives from the following groups:
– School foodservice staff
– School Board
– School Administrators
– Public

20. Who does this bill impact?
• USDA will directly work to implement the
provisions of the bill with:
– States
– School districts
– Neighborhoods
• Americans will start to see changes in their
communities over time and ultimately see
children of America becoming healthier.

21. Components of the Bill
• This bill takes several necessary steps towards:
– Reducing childhood obesity
• Enhances the nutrition quality of school and pre-school
meals and focus in on reducing childhood obesity
• Strengthens local school wellness policies
– Increases program mentoring and integrity
• Improving administration and increasing compliance
– Reducing hunger
• By Improving the access
• Increasing the resources for child nutrition program

22. How does it improve nutrition and
focus on reducing childhood obesity?
• Gives USDA the authority to set nutritional
standards for all foods regularly sold in schools
during the school day, including vending
machines, the “a la carte” lunch lines, and
school stores
• Help communities establish local farm to
school networks, create school gardens, and
ensures that more local foods are used in the
school setting

23. How does it improve nutrition and
focus on reducing childhood obesity?
• Expands access to drinking water in schools,
particularly during meal times
• Sets basic standards for school wellness policies
including goals for nutrition promotion and education
and physical activity, while still permitting local
flexibility to tailor the policies to their particular needs
• Promotes nutrition and wellness in child care settings
through the federally-subsidized Child and Adult Care
Food Program
• Expands support for breastfeeding through the WIC
program

24. Importance of Education to Fight
Obesity
• Schools can offer the healthiest foods
possible, but it will not help change children’s
eating behaviors unless we teach our students
how to make healthy choices
• Many children don’t understand the
relationship between food production and
what they eat

25. Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution
Jamie Oliver traveled to
Huntington, WV, the
“unhealthiest city in
America,” and spent
three months improving
the food in the schools in
his reality TV show
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bGYs4KS_djg

26. Nutritional Recommendation Changes
• The 2010 reauthorization act updated
nutritional standards based on the newest
Dietary Guidelines for Americans
– The new meal plan has just gone into effect with
the beginning of this school year (2012-2013)
– There are specific requirements that school meals
must meet but it is up to the individual school
districts as to what foods are served, how often,
and how foods are prepared
– Prior to 2010, nutrition requirements had not
been changed for over 15 years!

27. Nutrition Guidelines by Grade
Grains:
Grades K-5: 8 to 9 servings per week
Grades 6-8: 8 to 10 servings per week
Grades 9-12: 10 to 12 servings per week
Students should have at least one
serving of grains each day, and one-half
of offerings must be rich in whole grain.
Meats/Meat alternatives:
Grades K-5: 8 to 10 ounces per week
Grades 6-8: 9 to 10 ounces per week
Grades 9-12: 10 to 12 ounces per week
Nuts, tofu, cheese and eggs can be
substituted for meat in some cases.

28. Nutrition Guidelines by Grade
Fruits:
Grades K-8: One-half cup per day
Grades 9-12: One cup per day
Only half of the weekly fruit
requirement can come from juice.
Vegetables:
Grades K-8: Three-quarters cup per day
Grades 9-12: One cup per day
Weekly requirements for vegetable
subgroups, including dark green,
red/orange, beans/peas, starchy and
others.

29. Nutrition Guidelines by Grade
Sodium:
A timetable sets targets for even further
reducing sodium levels by 2014, 2017, and
2022
By July 2014, sodium levels for lunches
should not exceed:
Grades K-5: 640 milligrams
Grades 6-8: 710 milligrams
Grades 9-12: 740 milligrams
Fats:
Saturated fat can be no more than 10 % of
calories
No trans-fat, except for those naturally
occurring in meat and dairy products.

30. Nutrition Guidelines by Grade
Milk:
Grades K-12: 1 cup per day
Low fat (1% fat) or fat-free milk
Only fat-free milk can be flavored
(chocolate or strawberry)
Total calories:
Grades K-5: 550 to 650 per day
Grades 6-8: 600 to 700 per day
Grades 9-12: 750 to 850 per day
Calories can be averaged over the week

31. Sample Menus
Before: After:
Hot dog on bun (3 oz) Whole wheat spaghetti with
with ketchup (4T) meat sauce (1/2 cup)
Canned pears (1/4 cup) Whole wheat roll
Green beans, cooked (1/2 cup)
Raw celery (1/8 cup) Broccoli (1/2 cup)
Raw carrots (1/8 cup) Cauliflower (1/2 cup)
Ranch dressing (1.75 T) Kiwi halves (1/2 cup)
Chocolate milk (8oz) Low-fat (1%) milk (8 oz)
Low-fat ranch dip (1 oz)
Soft margarine (5 g)

32. School Lunches in 2008

33. School Lunches Today

34. Compliance with Previous Nutritional
Recommendations
• Less than 1/4 of elementary schools met the total
fat requirements
• Less than 1/3 of elementary schools met the
saturated fat requirements
• 95% of schools were exceeding the upper limit
for sodium
• Vegetable consumption was higher, due to
potatoes/french fries
• In the 2004-05 school year, 93-94% of meals
failed to meet all nutritional standards

35. How does it increase program
mentoring and integrity?
• Requires school districts to be audited every three years to
improve compliance with nutritional standards
• Requires schools to make information more readily
available to parents about the nutritional quality of meals
• Includes provisions to ensure the safety of school foods
like:
– Improving recall procedures
– Extending hazard analysis
– Stricter food safety requirements for school meals throughout
the campus
• Provides training the technical assistance for school food
service providers

36. How does is increase access and
therefore reduce hunger?
– Reauthorizes child nutrition programs for another
five years
– Invests $4.5 billion in additional funding over the
next ten years for child nutrition programs
– Expands the after school meal program to all 50
states

37. How does is increase access and
therefore reduce hunger?
• Increases the number of eligible children
enrolled in school meal programs by about
115,000 students by using Medicaid data to
directly certify children who meet income
requirements
• Helps certify an average of 4,500 additional
student per year to receive school meals by
setting benchmarks for states to improve the
certification process

38. How does is increase access and
therefore reduce hunger?
• Allows more universal meal access for eligible
students in high poverty communities by
eliminating paper applications and using census
data to determine school-wide income eligibility.
• This spring, NY, OH, WV, and the DC will be added
to the states who are allowed to use the option
of “community eligibility” for school meal
programs.
– This reduces the burden on families by eliminating
household meal applications and helps the school by
eliminating excessive amounts of paperwork.

39. Who is eligible?
• Any student enrolled in a participating school may
purchase meals through the NSLP
• Free and reduced price meal eligibility are determined
by household income and the federal poverty level
– Free lunch: </130%
• If the family is receiving SNAP benefits, then that child
automatically qualifies
– Reduced price lunch: 130-185%
– Full price: Above 185%
• For 2012 - 2013 for a family of 3:
– Poverty level = $19,090
• 130% = $24,817
• 185% = $35,317

40. How is pricing determined?
• Local food authorities set the cost for full-price
school lunch
• Schools must operate their meal service as a non-
profit entity
• All meals are subsidized in some way, even the
meals sold at full price
• Afterschool snacks are provided to children under
the same income standards as the lunch prices
• In schools were at least 50% of their student body
is eligible for free or reduced-price lunches then
snacks may be served free of charge to all
students

41. Financial Reimbursement
• Lunches:
– Free: $2.86
– Reduced: $2.46
– Paid: $0.27
• Snacks:
– Free: $0.78
– Reduced: $0.39
– Paid: $0.07

42. HHFKA Impact on Financial
Reimbursement
• As an incentive for compliance with the updated meal
requirements, those who are certified receive an extra
$0.06 per meal served
– This is a historic investment, the first real reimbursement
rate increase in 30 years
– This bonus will be adjusted for inflation in the years ahead
• Schools are reimbursed standard cash rates if less than
60% of the student body are receiving free or reduced-
price lunches except:
– Schools in Hawaii and Alaska and schools with high
percentages of low-income students receive higher
reimbursements

43. Non-Monetary Reimbursements
• USDA foods which are known as “entitlement
foods”
– These are awarded at a value of 22.75 cents for each
meal served that fiscal year
– Schools may also receive “bonus” USDA foods if they
are available from surplus agricultural stocks
– The type of food they receive is dependent on
availability and pricing
• As part of the HHFKA, USDA will seek
improvement of nutritional quality of commodity
foods

44. How much does the program cost?
• By comparison, the lunch program's total cost
in:
– In 1947: $70 million
– In 1950: $119.7 million
– In 1960: $225.8 million
– In 1970: $565.5 million
– In 1980: $3.2 billion
– In 1990: $3.7 billion
– In 2000: $6.1 billion
– In 2011: $11.1 billion

45. Programs to Reduce Childhood Obesity
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kj_2xx-
UKWo&feature=player_embedded

46. Programs to Reduce Childhood Obesity
• Farm To School
– Started in the 1990’s with just a few programs
– Currently, all 50 states have Farm to School
Programs
– There are about 2,571 program in the U.S.
– 10,217 schools are involved
– 2,470 school districts are involved

47. Health Benefits of Farm to School
• Improve childhood nutrition, reduce hunger,
and prevent obesity and obesity-related
diseases by:
– Strengthening children's and communities'
knowledge about, and attitudes toward,
agriculture, food, nutrition and the environment
– Increasing children's participation in the school
meals program
– Increasing consumption of fruits and vegetables

48. Economic Benefits of Farm To School
• Benefit school food budgets, after start-up
– If planning and menu choices are made consistent with
seasonal availability of fresh and minimally processed
whole foods.
• Support economic development across numerous
sectors and promote job creation.
• Increase market opportunities for farmers, fishers,
ranchers, food processors and food manufacturers.
• Decrease the distance between producers and
consumers, thus promoting food security while
reducing emissions of greenhouse gases and reliance
on oil.