Evaluation's Vital Role in Healthier School Meals

The Third School Nutrition Dietary Assessment Study (SNDA-III) provides comprehensive, nationally representative data on school meals offered to and selected by the nation's schoolchildren. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is aiding the mission to bring school meals up to national dietary standards.

Progress is being made and challenges remain in refining the nutrient content of school meals. This brief, written by an undersecretary of the USDA, introduces a supplement to SNDA-III for the Journal of the American Dietetic Association. The supplement puts forth an initial collection of reports on SNDA-III with the expectation that the rich amount of data presented in the study will lead to further investigations.

USDA has already taken steps toward meeting the standards of the Dietary Guidelines For Americans 2005 by:

  • Asking the Institute of Medicine and the National Academies to recommend new school meal-pattern requirements;
  • Offering schools a wider range of healthful fruits, vegetables, lean meats and whole grains; and
  • Developing and offering new educational materials that are based on dietary guidelines.

Nutrition science and research play a critical role in maintaining the effectiveness of the school meal programs. USDA continues to work with researchers and nutrition professionals to help school meal programs fulfill their potential.

Improving Child Nutrition Policy

  1. 1 The Third School Nutrition Dietary Assessment Study
  2. 2 A Practice Perspective on the Third School Nutrition Dietary Assessment Study
  3. 3 Evaluation's Vital Role in Healthier School Meals
  4. 4 Meals Offered and Served in US Public Schools
  5. 5 Nutritional Quality of the Diets of US Public School Children and the Role of the School Meal Programs
  6. 6 Availability and Consumption of Competitive Foods in US Public Schools
  7. 7 School Meals
  8. 8 Consumption of Low-Nutrient, Energy-Dense Foods and Beverages at School, Home, and Other Locations Among School Lunch Participants and Nonparticipants
  9. 9 School Food Environments and Practices Affect Dietary Behaviors of US Public School Children
  10. 10 Association Between School Food Environment and Practices and Body Mass Index of U.S. Public School Children
  11. 11 School Breakfast Program But Not School Lunch Program Participation is Associated with Lower Body Mass Index

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