Next year, many snacks eaten by students at CHS cafeterias will fall victim to new legislation regarding school lunch. This includes commonly purchased options like pretzels and cheese, nachos and fruit juice. This legislation will also affect serving sizes on many other lunch options available at the cafeteria. These changes come as a result of the “Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act” signed into law late 2010. Starting at the beginning of the 2012-2013 school year, these new standards are required by law to be met by all public schools.

One of the new requirements in the legislation raises the amount of protein per lunch from one and a half ounces to two ounces. This mostly affects the cheese cups served with pretzels and nachos, as they no longer provide enough protein to meet the new standards.

Another standard states that cafeterias cannot serve more than half of a lunch’s fruit or vegetable requirement in juice form. Because of this, the cafeterias will have to cease availability of fruit juice at lunch.

In addition to ruling out certain foods, the legislation also increases serving sizes drastically on fruits and vegetables to double their current minimum. Also, it states that a lunch must include a serving of fruits and vegetables to be considered a complete lunch.

Cafeteria manager Anne Marie Woerner said she believes the changes are a good thing, and kids will feel fuller as a result of the larger fruit and vegetable servings.

“I think the guideline will work out pretty good,” Woerner said. “But sometimes people don’t like a change. Regardless, the guidelines are going to help kids get the full nutritional value of fruits and veggies by eating them instead of drinking them.”

For more information on the “Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act,” click here.