The School Nutrition Association today praised the House Appropriations Committee for keeping a provision to grant school meal requirement waivers to schools that say they are losing money but the group also said USDA should rescind several key requirements of school meals under the Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act.

“We appreciate the House Appropriations Committee’s support for this waiver to give temporary needed relief to some schools across the country,” said SNA President Leah Schmidt in a news release.

“This will not halt the progress in school cafeterias; it is a temporary reprieve to allow schools to catch up.”

But Schmidt also said SNA was continuing to request that USDA or Congress act to:

• Retain the current requirement that 50 percent of grains offered with school meals be whole grain rich rather than further increasing the requirement to 100 percent.
• Retain Target 1 sodium levels, and suspend implementation of further sodium levels unless and until scientific research supports such reductions for children.
• Retain requirements to offer a wide variety of fruits and vegetables, but eliminate the mandate that students must take a fruit or vegetable with meals.