Idaho School Lunches Meet Fed Guidelines

The U.S. Department of Agriculture wants school lunches to be healthier. But thanks to Idaho guidelines already in place, your child may already be eating healthier.

U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack proposed the new school lunch guidelines yesterday. They included  a limit on calories, banning trans-fats, serving more fruits, vegetables, and whole grains, cutting sodium, and use low-fat or non-fat milk.  But in Idaho schools, most districts have already adopted state recommendations, rolled out in 2009, that meet these federal standards.  Idaho's new menus were merely state recommendations, not requirements. But most districts seemed to jump at the chance to offer a healthier meal, even though they can't actually make the kids eat it.