Nutrition Standards for Idaho School Meals Questions and Answers

General

If a school has a four day week do the nutrition standards still apply?
Yes, all of the nutrient standards apply to schools with four day weeks; none of the amounts are increased or decreased because of the shorter week. For example the school will still need to serve three whole grains per week even if they only have 4 days of school in a week.

If a school uses food based menu planning do the standards still apply?
Yes, all of the nutrient standards apply to all menu planning methods. Food based, enhanced food based, and nutrient standards menu planning methods should follow the new Idaho standards. None of the standards require nutrient analysis software.

If a school serves food at multiple points of service or lines do the new nutrition standards apply to all lines.
Yes the Idaho Nutrition Standards apply to all points of service. All reimbursable meals should meet the standards.

Calorie Range

If we have a childhood obesity problem why doesn’t the calorie standard recommend that schools serve calories below 100%?
Serving a meal with less than 100% of the minimum calories would be less restrictive than the USDA Standard. A State agency cannot make standards that are less restrictive than the USDA Standards. The majority of students participating in School Meal Programs come from food insecure households, therefore meeting their minimum calorie standard is important.

Trans Fat

What does “strive to eliminate” mean in the trans fat standard?
Since trans fats do occur naturally in some foods it is difficult to completely eliminate trans fats from all meals. The 2005 Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommend keeping trans fat consumption as low as possible. Schools should follow this recommendation by reading Nutrition Facts labels and eliminating foods that are high in trans fats.

What are natural trans fats? Are these okay in school meals?
A small amount of trans fat is found naturally in some animal-based foods such as beef, lamb, and dairy foods. It isn’t clear if these naturally occurring trans fats have the same negative effects on the body as trans fats that have been industrially manufactured.

According to the FDA, completely eliminating trans fat from the diet is not practical because they are unavoidable in ordinary diets. For this reason the trans fat standard does not apply to naturally occurring trans fats.

Pre-Fried Foods

What if a school has a line that serves hamburger and fries every day or a line that serves an entrée choice of a breaded chicken patty every day?
The pre-fried standard refers to all reimbursable meal points of service. If the school has a line that serves a pre-fried food every day of the week the school will have to decrease the days those foods are served to only three times per week. There needs to be at least two days a week where student cannot choose a pre-fried entrée or side dish.

Does the pre-fried standard include items grilled (for example a hamburger cooked on the grill)?
No. The pre-fried standards are referring to items that are pre-fried by the manufacturer by submersing in oil.

Do items that are pre-fried, but have no trans fats and/or are low in fat count as a pre-fried item in the pre-fried standard?
The amount of fat in pre-fried items will vary from item to item, any food that is pre-fried by the manufacturer by submersing in oil counts as one of the three pre-fried items.

If a school has multiple serving lines or serves multiple entrees per serving line how do they count their pre-fried items?
A student should not be able to get more than three pre-fried entrees per week. So, if a school offers two different pre-fried entrees in one day and the student can only take one entrée, then that would only count as one of your three pre-fried items. This also means that schools should have at least two days out of the week where a student does not have a pre-fried entrée choice. The same goes for the side items.

Why are you allowing three pre-fried items per week? Shouldn’t it be less?
Due to the availability and cost of non-pre-fried items, CNP is allowing schools to serve three pre-fried foods per week. (CNP felt that it would be very difficult for schools to meet this standard if it was more restrictive.) Schools should work to serve as few prefried items as possible and not to serve more than the maximum in the pre-fried standard.

If it fits in the analysis, does it matter if it is deep fried or fat is added?
The standards specifically focus on fried and prefried foods because studies show that limiting the consumption of fried or pre-fried foods is one of the most effective ways to reduce the intake of fats. Schools frequently struggle to meet their calorie and nutrient requirements while staying below the minimum fat requirements, especially at the secondary level. Reducing the amount of pre-fried foods will help assure that nutritionally dense foods are served more often and high fat, fast foods are not the normal fare. Also, schools have the responsibility of modeling healthy eating by providing students with regular healthy choices. A school that is serving prefried fast food every day is not modeling healthy eating behaviors for students. It is not healthy for anyone of any age to eat pre-fried foods every day.

Whole Grains

What if a school does not serve bread every day?
There are many foods that are whole grains that are not bread products. The whole grain standard does not only refer to bread but it also includes whole grain noodles, whole grain rice, and desserts with more than 50% of the grain ingredients whole grain.

Are cereals whole grains? If the cereal says whole grain on the package does it meet the whole grain standard?
Some cereal manufacturers have changed their formulation so that they are whole grain foods. Although some packaging can be misleading; the best way to determine if a cereal is a whole grain is to check for a whole grain to be listed first on the food label ingredient list. If a whole grain is not listed first then it does not meet the whole grain standard definition.

If a school serves a bread that is high in fiber, but does not have the first ingredient as a whole grain can the school serve the high fiber bread and meet the whole grain standard?
No. The fiber standard and the whole grain standard are two separate standards because whole grains not only contain fiber, but they also contain other phytonutrients, and some key vitamins and minerals.

Will the schools have to bake everything from scratch to meet the whole grain standard?
No. Some schools choose to make their whole grain baked products from scratch, while some choose to purchase some of their whole grain products. The food industry has recently increased the availability of whole grain foods due to the whole grain recommendation in the 2005 Dietary Guidelines for Americans and customer demands. There are many whole grain products available to purchase including whole grain noodles, whole grain rice (brown rice), whole wheat bread sticks, whole wheat hoagie buns, and whole wheat pizza crust. Remember to always read the Nutrition Facts label ingredient list to determine if a product is a true whole grain. Some
sales reps may think their product is a whole grain when in fact it may not be.

The whole grain standard says that whole grains must be served at least three times a week in all serving lines. Do all of the lines have to serve the whole grains on the same day?
No. Different lines can serve different whole grains on different days as long as each line offers a whole grain at least three times per week. Because the whole grains must be offered at all points of service, what does a school do if it serves pizza from a vendor every day in one line and that vendor does not have whole grain pizza crust? The school has multiple options in this situation. The school can request that the pizza vendor start making a whole grain pizza crust for the school. Many pizza vendors are willing to make adjustments to their pizza recipes to reduce the fat in pizza for schools and may be willing to add whole grain flour to their crust. The school can also consider writing whole grain pizza crust in their bid for pizza to see if there are any pizza companies in the area who are willing to make a whole grain crust. The school also has the option of adding whole grain items to the pizza meal such as a whole grain breadstick, a whole grain roll, or a whole grain dessert item.

Do tortilla chips with the first ingredient “stone ground corn masa flour” count as a whole grain for the Idaho Nutrition Standards?
Since the product does not have the word whole in front of corn flour, it most likely would not be considered a whole grain.

• “Stone ground” does not necessarily mean that the product is whole grain. “Stone ground” describes the process used for making the flour or meal. Look for “whole” in combination with “stone ground” in the ingredient statement.
• Whole corn “treated with lime” (often used in tortilla products, and may be called “masa”) would only be a whole grain if documentation from the manufacturer indicates that the manufacturing process used to prepare the corn with lime retains the pericarp, or bran layer.
• When a grain name, such as corn, oats, or rye flour is listed in the ingredient statement, but no descriptor (such as “whole grain” for corn or “brown” for rice) is listed, the SFA needs to obtain further documentation from the manufacturer to determine if the product is whole grain.

For more information on Identifying whole grains read the USDA’s HealthierUS Challenge Whole Grain Resource. This resource is located at Click Here .

Fruits and Vegetables

What is the minimum serving for fruits and vegetables?
A minimum serving has not been defined for any of the foods in the nutrition standards due to the fact that different menu planning methods have different requirements. Each district must meet the minimum requirements of their menu planning method and anything above that is a plus.

My Pyramid recommends that children get between 1-2 cups of fruit and 1-3 cups of vegetables depending on age, sex, and level of physical activity. These recommendations are for an entire day’s consumption.

It will be difficult to serve fresh fruits and vegetables during winter—any suggestions of foods besides apples, bananas, and oranges?
Recent studies show that frozen and canned fruits and vegetables are as nutritious as fresh, but students often prefer the higher quality of fresh fruits and vegetables and will often consume more fruits and vegetables when they are offered in fresh forms. During the winter months there are not as many fresh fruits and vegetables available, but apples, carrots, pears, potatoes, squash, oranges, tangerines, grapes, spinach, romaine lettuce, and tomatoes are often available during most of the winter months.

Why does fruit need to be in its own syrup?
Fruits that are packed in its own juices, packed in fruit juice, or in light syrup have less added sugar than fruits packed in heavy syrup.

If a school has a self serve bar that has fruits and vegetables can that be used to meet the fruit and vegetable standard or does the school need to provide fruits and vegetables at each individual point of service?
As long as all of the points of service can access the bar that has the fruits and vegetables then the bar can be used to meet the fruit and vegetable standard. If there is a point of service that doesn't have access to the bar then the school would need to have a fruit and vegetable served on that line. The standards do not require that the students take a fruit and/or vegetable, it just requires the school to offer a fruit and vegetable at each point of service.

What does “variety” mean in the fruit and vegetable standard?
Variety means serving fruits and vegetables from the different color categories and in different forms throughout the week. It is important that schools do not serve the same fruits and vegetables each day. Different fruits and vegetables contain different nutrients so it is important to serve a variety. The HealthierUS Challenge requires schools to serve at least one different fruit and at least one different vegetable every day of the week as well as three dark green or orange vegetables per week. This would be a good goal for a school to work towards.

Why limit juice?
Fruit juice is often low in fiber compared to whole fruits. Often the fiber in fruit comes from its peel
and/or pulp which are usually removed in juices. The 2005 Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommend that whole fruit rather than fruit juice is consumed to meet the fruit recommendation to ensure adequate fiber intake. The American Academy of Pediatrics also recommends that juice intake be limited because of concerns about excess juice consumption leading to excess energy intake, as well as displacing other more nutrient-dense foods.

Can legumes be considered a vegetable on the menu? For instance, if we serve refried beans as a side dish, can this count as the vegetable?
Yes beans can count as a vegetable and as a legume. In food based menu planning, refried beans can be either a meat/meat alternate or a vegetable but not counted as both in the same meal. In Nutrient Standard Menu planning beans are a vegetable.

Low-Fat Milk

Can schools serve flavored milk under the new nutrition standards?
Yes, studies show that offering students flavored milk can help increase consumption of the nutritionally dense beverage.

Legumes

Can the Legume Standard be met with an entrée or a side dish?
Yes. The legume standard can be met with an entrée or a side dish. For example a school could serve a bean burrito to meet the standard or a side of beans and rice to meet the standard.

Do peanuts count as a legume?
Nutritionally most legumes are about the same even though their appearance, texture, and flavor may differ somewhat. Legumes are packed with fiber, protein, other nutrients, and phytonutrients, yet have little fat and no cholesterol. There is not a consistent answer to whether peanuts are considered a legume or not in the nutrition field. For the Idaho Nutrition Standards peanuts are not considered a legume and cannot be counted towards the legume standard.

Also for the Idaho Nutrition Standards green beans, string beans, green peas, and fresh soy beans (edamame) are not considered a legume and cannot be counted towards the legume standard.

What are dry beans? Do they have to be dry?
Dry beans do not mean that the bean needs to be purchased in its dry form. Dry beans include canned, pre-cooked beans or dry packaged beans. What is the minimum serving for legumes?
A minimum serving has not been defined for any of the foods in the nutrition standards because different menu planning methods have different requirements. Each district must meet the minimum requirements of their menu planning method and anything above that is a plus. The 2005 Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommend consuming 3 cups of legumes per week. This recommendation is for an entire week and for all meals during the day.

Sugar

What are some examples of cereals that kids like that meet the sugar standard?
Below is a list of some examples of cereals that may meet the sugar standard. Since products frequently change it is important to get up-to-date nutrition information on the products that you order. Be sure to check the serving sizes when looking at sugars. The Idaho standard is per ounce, cereal serving sizes range from .5 – 2 ounces.

• Cheerios
• Honey Nut
• Cheerios
• Kix
• Cinnamon Toast
• Crunch
• Frosted Corn
• Flakes
• Golden Grahams
• Raisin Brans
• Frosted Mini
• Wheats
• Corn Pops
• Rice Krispies
• Trix
• Apple Zingers
• Colossal Crunch

Some cereals are available to schools in reduced sugar varieties as well. Take the time to research your cereal options. Some brands of cereals are much lower in sugars than others.

The sugar standard says that natural sugars are exempt, what is this referring to?
The Idaho sugar standard is referring to sugars that are added to foods during manufacturing. Some food items such as fruits and dairy products naturally contain sugar and are exempt from the standard.

Does the sugar standard include frosting on a cake?
Yes, the frosting is part of the cake and the standard refers to the entire product (frosting and cake) therefore the amount of sugar in the cake and frosting should be counted to determine if the cake meets the standard.

In regards to the sugar standard, is pancake syrup appropriate to serve with pancakes, waffles, and French toast? According to my nutritional data, pancake syrup has 53 grams simple sugar per 100 gram serving. We offer a 1 oz serving of syrup when pancakes, waffles, or French toast are on the menu.
The sugar standard applies to grain products and is intended to reduce the offering of high sugar added cereals, pastries, etc. Although sugar is high in simple syrup as you have pointed out, there is no ban on serving syrup. Syrup would fall into the condiments category so schools should work to control portions of syrup in meals.

Why does the sugar standard only apply to purchased items?
Schools should work to reduce sugar in all foods, both purchased foods and those made from scratch. Since all menu planning methods do not use nutrient analysis it would be difficult for all schools to know the grams of sugar in made from scratch items. Also, different made from scratch products need different amounts of sugar to make the product bake correctly and be palatable. A good rule of thumb to follow for homemade products is to limit sugar to seven cups
per 100 servings (or three pounds sugar per 100 servings) to be in line with the sugar standard for purchased items.

If schools can’t serve high sugar cereals how will they meet the calorie standard at breakfast?
If schools offer a variety of whole grains, fruits, protein foods, and dairy foods they will be able to meet the calorie standard for breakfast. High sugar breakfast foods are not as nutrient dense as the foods recommended by the 2005 Dietary Guidelines for Americans and are therefore not as beneficial to the health of students.

Sodium

Does the sodium standard mean per item, per meal, per daily analysis, or weekly analysis?
The sodium standard of 2mg per calorie is for the total weekly analysis.

Fiber

How do you add fiber to breakfast?
Serving more whole grain foods and fruits at breakfast will help increase fiber. Look at food labels and try to get cereals with five grams or more fiber per serving.

Cholesterol

Why isn’t the cholesterol for breakfast higher that the cholesterol for lunch since breakfast foods tend to be higher in cholesterol?
The USDA nutrition standards are based on ¼ the RDAs (Recommended Dietary Allowances) for
breakfast and 1/3 the RDA for lunch. The New Nutrition Standards for Idaho School Meals are also based on these numbers. The 2005 Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommend consuming less than 300mg of cholesterol per day. One-fourth of 300mg is 75mg which is the breakfast standard and one-third of 300mg is 100mg which is the lunch standard.

Condiments

What does “control portions” mean in the condiment standard?
Because condiments can be high in fat, saturated fat, and sodium, the New Nutrition Standards for Idaho School Meals encourage schools to control portions. Portions of condiments can be controlled in multiple ways. Below are some ideas for controlling portions:

• Control portions by providing correct serving utensils (1 oz ladle)
• Use pumps that are set at 1 oz
• Use portion packets
• Pre-portion condiments
• Pre-mix salad dressing in the salads (a salad recipe can be found on the Nutrition Standards web site at www.sde.idaho.gov/site/cnp/nutritionStandards/)

Schools should not have high fat or high sodium condiments available in self serve containers that are high flowing and encourage large portions.

In the condiment standard what does accurately reflect condiment usage in nutrient analysis and production records mean?
Nutrient Standard Menu Planning schools need to be able to accurately include the amount of condiments served to students in their nutrient analysis. All condiment usage needs to be measured. CNP is encouraging that studies of condiment usage are completed at least twice a year.

All menu planning methods need to have the amount of condiments used accurately reflected each day on their production records.

Ranch Dressing Example: if self pouring ranch dressing containers are available the school would be required to do a study at least twice a year to accurately determine the amount of ranch dressing that is used by students. This amount needs to be included on production records. The documentation from the study must be available during SMI reviews to explain how the school came up with the amounts of dressing. This guidance applies to all types of condiments.

Can schools allow the adults to have salt shakers and full fat condiments that are self serve?
The adults in schools should be role models for children by making healthy food choices in the cafeteria. All of the Nutrition Standards for school meals are good guidelines for students and adults. It is up to the school to decide what they will or will not offer to adults. If adults are offered salt shakers and other items that do not follow the Nutrition Standards, it is recommended that those items are used in a teacher’s lounge or another area away from the students.

Does the condiment standard include butter and margarine?
Yes. The Webster’s dictionary defines condiment as “a substance added in small amounts to food, used to enhance the flavor.” The condiment standard includes any item that is added to the food including salt, pepper, butters, dressings, and sauces. Butter and margarine can be high in fat, saturated fat, trans fat, and sodium and should be limited in school meals.

If a school serves oatmeal can the school give the students a small amount of brown sugar on top of the oatmeal?
Yes. It would be best if the amount of sugar is controlled by a foodservice employee by putting the sugar on the oatmeal for the student. The sugar needs to be included in the school’s nutrient analysis (for Nutrient Standard Menu Planning Methods). Schools should consider decreasing or eliminating added sugar over time and/or consider other options for sweetening oatmeal such as fruit or yogurt toppings. Schools should also consider the sugar standard when adding sugars to foods to assure they are still meeting this standard.

What about adding salt to fries if it's not in the analysis?
Anything and everything that is added to the food needs to be in the analysis. If the foodservice is adding salt to the fries then the amount of salt should be on the production record and should be in the analysis. Per the Idaho Nutrition Standards there should not be salt shakers available to the students so the students should not be able to add salt to fries (the reason for this is that the sodium needs to be accurately reflected in the analysis, which is difficult to do if salt shakers are available to the students).

A la Carte

Will you make sure the rest of the school follows these rules for their competitive foods?
Competitive foods on school campuses are controlled by each individual district and/or school. Child Nutrition Programs does not have any oversight of foods outside of the USDA School Meal Programs. Districts should address competitive foods on campus in their School Wellness Policy. The School Wellness Policy law requires that the local education agency sets guidelines for all foods available on each school campus during the school day with the objectives of promoting student health and reducing childhood obesity.