C. Ryan Barber
Facing criticism that newly mandated school lunch menus were leaving students hungry, the U.S. Department of Agriculture has removed daily and weekly portion limits on grains, meats and alternatives such as cheese.
Berks County food service directors welcomed the announcement. Planning menus around the regulations was like trying to solve a jigsaw puzzle, some had said.
But with calorie limits still in effect, some directors were hesitant to embrace the relaxed regulations.
"With the calorie limits, you can't do a whole lot about changing the meal program," said Gloria L. Clay, Exeter School District food service supervisor. "But it's a welcome change at this point. Maybe we can put cheese on some of our sandwiches now."
From cheese in Exeter to a couple more chicken nuggets on plates in Reading schools, the change will be seen in little ways.
"We'll be serving our 2.5-ounce burger again," said Kurt Myers, Reading's food services director.
Approved in 2010 and championed by first lady Michelle Obama, the Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act handed the USDA the authority to mandate a menu makeover for 2012-13, introducing new grain and protein restrictions and more fruits and vegetables. But food service directors took aim at the restrictions over fears that students would go home hungry and that the required variety of produce would lead to wasted food.
In Fleetwood, food services Director Jeff Woodall said the USDA's decision to relax the grain and meat limits was intended to buy time for schools and food manufacturers to adjust to the guidelines.
For instance, schools will be able to serve breaded chicken patties weighing 3 ounces apiece, even though the original restrictions had capped protein servings at 12 ounces a week for ninth- to 12th-graders. The protein limit was 10 ounces for children in kindergarten to eighth grade.
"It will go back into effect next year I'm sure," Woodall said. "This is just a temporary relief."
Tony Brochu Jr., Muhlenberg's food services coordinator, said he is staying the course, leaving the menus as they've been since the start of the school year.
He compared the limits placed on menus with a diet and argued that a diet doesn't become any easier after taking a break, only to begin it anew.
"I don't have to flip-flop," he said. "I don't have to look like a politician and flip-flop on my choices."
Though Brochu will be leaving his job in January for a similar position in Lebanon County, he said his replacement at Muhlenberg will continue as though the portion limits were still in place.
Back in summer, as they planned menus for the school year, food service directors embraced the federal effort to curb childhood obesity. But they decried the regulations as imposing too much too soon.
Brochu said complaints about smaller portions wore off after a few weeks, but his concern about wasted food - particularly from the mandated variety of produce - has played out, keeping garbage disposals humming through the lunch periods.
But at least the government is listening, food directors said.
"It's not like a mandate from the dictator that this is the way things are going to be," said Myers of Reading. "When the majority talks, it appears they are listening."
Contact C. Ryan Barber: 610-371-5081 or rbarber@readingeagle.com.
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