Making school lunches healthier
USDA launches “Harvests to Hallways”
WASHINGTON (Gray DC) - As millions of children are heading back to the classroom, school lunches across the country are getting a makeover.
The USDA is rolling out a new initiative to get local produce into the lunch line.
National correspondent Molly Martinez digs in from outside the USDA.
The program is called, “Harvest to Hallways.” The mission is to shorten the distance between farm and lunch plate.
Among its priorities? $25 million in farm to school grants, $30 million for lunch improvement research, and a reduction in ultra-processed options and refined sugars.
They’re also announcing massive investments into school cafeteria infrastructure, according to USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins, “The additional $70 million that we are announcing today to upgrade school cafeterias cold storage stoves and other equipment. $70 million for millions of children.”
She was joined at podium by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. who has championed healthy eating as the solution to many woes.
“For millions of kids, school breakfast and lunch, the most important meals they eat each day. And for many of them are the only meals.”
According to the School Nutrition Association, roughly 30 million children rely on school lunch in the U.S. About 21 million of those are enrolled in free and reduced lunch programs.
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