Meat Companies Can Benefit By Studying Up On School Lunch Program
by Gary Jay Kushner
Recent legislative and regulatory developments reflect continuing public concern about the level of fat in the American diet. For innovative meat companies, these developments offer a potential marketing niche.
Prompted by concerns over the nutritional quality of lunches being served to schoolchildren under the nation's school lunch program, Congress passed legislation late last year requiring all meals served under the National School Lunch Program and School Breakfast Program to satisfy the Dietary Guidelines for Americans by July 1, 1996.
Congress, of course, was slightly behind the times-but then in a hurry to catch up. Several months earlier, USDA published a proposed rule requiring the nutrient content of school lunches and breakfasts, averaged over a week, to comply with the guidelines by July 1, 1998.
To reach this goal, USDA proposed scrapping the program's traditional "meal pattern" approach to menu planning and adopting a nutrient-based approach in its place.
Under the proposal, schools would use the Nutrient Standard Menu Planning System (NuMenus) or the Assisted Nutrient Standard Menu Planning System (Assisted NuMenus) to evaluate the nutrient content of school meals and ensure compliance with the guidelines. Both systems would operate through standardized computer software.
Not surprisingly, the proposal drew strong criticism from schools concerned about the expense and complexity of nutrient-based menu planning.
Congress came to the rescue of the schools with the Healthy Meals for Healthy Americans Act of 1994. That legislation moved the deadline for complying with the guidelines forward two years, but directed USDA to permit schools to meet the deadline by using "food-based menu systems."
On Jan. 27, USDA published a proposed ruling implementing the food-based menu requirement, providing schools with a third option.
Wanted: low-fat meats
The proposed food-based menu system would retain the basic structure of the current "meal pattern" requirements for school meals. Schools would continue to plan and serve meals based on the now familiar four food components (meat/meat alternate, fluid milk, vegetables/fruits and grains/breads).
In addition, the number of items required for a reimbursable meal would not change. Schools would have to provide five items for a reimbursable lunch-one serving each of a meat/meat alternate, milk and grains/breads, and two servings of fruits/vegetables.
However, to make up for calories lost in limiting calories from fat to 30 percent and calories from saturated fat to 10 percent, as required by the guidelines, the proposal would increase the quantity requirements for fruits/vegetables and grains/breads under the school lunch program.
Portion requirements for the meat/meat alternate and fluid milk components would remain the same. Portions for all four components under the school breakfast program would also remain unchanged, although schools would be encouraged to provide children in grades 7 through 12 with an extra serving of grains/breads a day.
Because the food-based system maintains the current portion requirements for the meat/meat alternate category, the proposal would ensure a continued role for meat products in the school meals programs. To meet the fat restrictions in the guidelines, however, schools will be looking for lower fat meats and meat alternates.
This obviously offers meat companies-and processors of lower fat meat alternatives-marketing opportunities.
At a recent public meeting to discuss the food-based menu system, several nutrition advocacy groups took a shot at traditional meat products, urging that the size of the meat/meat alternative component be decreased.
However, the groups also encouraged USDA to lift restrictions on the use of vegetable protein products to enable the meat component to be satisfied with meat-based products.
'State' of things to come?
Of course, USDA's efforts could be for naught. As part of its "Contract With America," House Republicans have proposed combining the school breakfast and lunch programs, along with several other large federal food assistance programs, into block grants to the states.
With the cash they receive from Congress, states would be free to operate their own school meal programs with their own nutritional standards.
The block grant proposal for the school meals programs has cleared the House Committee on Economic and Educational Opportunities and was scheduled for a floor vote in the House in late March or early April.
The measure is opposed by Democrats and is expected to encounter opposition in the Senate from moderate Republicans, as well as Democrats. President Clinton says he would veto the measure. Returning power and control to the states, however, remains a cornerstone of the Republican agenda.
Regardless of the outcome on Capitol Hill, the proposed food-based menu system represents one more in a series of government initiatives designed to move Americans toward a lower fat diet. For meat companies, these efforts present opportunities and challenges.