With the obesity epidemic showing no signs of slowing down, one of the hottest topics in the news as of late has been healthier school lunches throughout the United States.

Individuals ranging from television chef Jamie Oliver to First Lady Michelle Obama have sharply criticized school lunch programs for their tendency to serve meals that are packed with highly processed foods, fat, sugar and sodium while lacking in a variety of important vitamins and minerals.

New school lunch standards adopted by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) will begin to address and change all of that, as schools will be required to follow a stricter set of guidelines dictating the portions and types of foods served to America’s children and teens.

32 Million Children Across the Country Will Eat Better at School

The new mandates imposed by the FDA will mark the biggest change to school lunch programs since the mid-90′s, and will allow almost 32 million children and teens to receive a healthier meal every day of the school year. It will take a total of three years for all of the regulations to enter the compliance code, though the first mandates will take hold in the fall of 2012.

According to Tom Vilsack, USDA Secretary of Agriculture, the new mandates mark a “critical step” in securing a healthier future for the youth of America. Vilsack said that moves such as these help to ensure the health and vitality of the general population now and in the years ahead.

Diane Pratt-Heavner, a spokesperson for the School Nutrition Association, agrees. Pratt-Heavner said her organization “strongly support[s] the regulations,” and that the implementation of the new mandates represents “great news for kids.”

An Overview of the New USDA School Lunch Mandates

USDA Undersecretary of Food, Nutrition and Consumer Services Kevin Concannon has revealed some of the requirements schools will have to meet. In order to comply with the new USDA mandates, schools will need to do the following:

• Offer vegetables and fruits daily

• Offer more whole grain food options

• Reduce the amount of overall fat in food

• Reduce the amount of overall sodium in food

• Offer low-fat and fat-free milk exclusively

• Modify portion sizes to make their calorie counts age-appropriate

The Origin of the New Mandates

The new USDA mandates were signed into law in 2011 by President Barack Obama as a component of the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act. First Lady Michelle Obama has been supporting the regulations with her Let’s Move! campaign.

In describing the importance of the new mandates, Michelle Obama noted the hard work that parents put in to ensure their children eat a balanced diet with limited amounts of junk food. She said that, prior to the new USDA school lunch rules, much of this work was “undone each day in the school cafeteria.”

Will Children Eat the New Meals?

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention states that roughly 17% of children and teens in the U.S. are obese, a statistic that parents, doctors and health experts alike find alarming.

Whether or not the new school lunch mandates will lower this percentage will depend on whether children will decide to try the improved foods slated for school lunch menus. Under the new mandates, kids will still be able to select traditionally unhealthy choices such as french fries, hamburgers and pizza. However, schools will be required to offer alternatives such as whole wheat pizza instead of white flour pizza, and baked sweet potato fries instead of fried tater tots.

According to Sam Kass, White House Chef, the USDA understands that children will tend to choose the foods that appear to be the tastiest regardless of their health value. He added that he and his team are “working very hard” to develop menu items that will be instantly appealing to kids without sacrificing nutrition. Further, he mentioned that hundreds of school districts are already following the new rules.

Schools and Parents are Crucial to the Effort

Seattle Public Schools is one of those districts. Wendy Weyer, the district’s Director of Nutrition Services, said that, in addition to following many of the upcoming mandates, her district is planting school gardens and developing partnerships with local food growers in an effort to improve the quality of school meals. She said the toughest challenge so far has been reducing sodium content.

According to Pratt-Heavner, parental participation will be crucial to the success of the new mandates. She said that parents should work with their kids and introduce healthy food choices such as vegetables and fruits at home. This way, children will be familiar with the healthier food items that will begin to appear in their school lunches, and therefore be more likely to choose them over their unhealthy counterparts.

How the USDA Mandates Affect School Funding

The new USDA school lunch mandates are slated to cost approximately $3.2 billion. That breaks down to just 6 cents per meal in additional federal funding, meaning that schools will be required to find some of their own ways of offering healthier food options and complying with the rules while remaining within budget. Weyer remains optimistic that Seattle Public Schools will be able to continue to adapt to the financial changes, though it remains to be seen how the mandate would impact more financially-strapped school districts.

One of the cost-cutting measures that the USDA will allow is additional flexibility in the design of the school lunch line. In order to cut down on waste, students will be able to select only the foods they want to eat rather than being served a prepared plate.

Healthier Lunches at School: The Bottom Line

Big changes are coming to school lunch menus in the next few years, thanks to new mandates imposed by the USDA. School lunch programs will be required to cut down on fat, salt and sugar, limit processed food options, and deliver additional whole grain choices.

Although the regulations will require additional spending by both school districts and the federal government, experts say that the changes are necessary for improving the health of America’s children and teens.