Health

18 HEALTH • Summer 2017 Despite federal changes to nutrition standards, local schools are upping their game \\ By Livia Gershon A ny parent can tell you how hard it is to put good, healthy food on a child's plate and get them to actually eat it. Now imagine feeding thousands of kids, from a wide variety of cultural backgrounds, each with their own quirky tastes, for just $3 a meal. That's Donna Lombardi's job. She's the director of nutrition for the Worcester Public Schools, which have been working for years to replace sugar-, salt- and pre- servative-laden packaged foods with healthier, tastier options. FOOD FOR THOUGHT "We've got two very experienced chefs on staff," Lombardi said. "We're making taco meat from scratch. We're making corn salad using unpro- cessed commodities from the USDA [US Department of Agriculture]. We're creating menu items [using] fresh vegetables and fruits that are grown in the region." Lombardi said one chef works with the culinary staff at each school in the district, helping them learn to make fresh, nutritious food. The other runs a "manufacturing kitchen," creating alternatives to mass-marketed products. Regulation rollback Starting in 2012, in an initiative headed by First Lady Michelle Obama, the USDA began phasing in new rules designed to improve meals served at pub- lic schools. Schools were required to use whole-grain baked goods and pastas, limit salt, serve multiple kinds of fruits and vegetables, and abide by mini- mum and maximum calorie limits for each meal. But this May, U.S. Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue announced a rollback of a few aspects of the rules. The limit on sodium will now stay at its current level, rather than drop- ping this year as previously planned. Schools are allowed to serve 1-percent fat milk, rather than only skim milk. And the Department will con- tinue to issue waivers allowing districts to skip whole grain requirements. The idea of relaxing nutrition standards troubles many people because there are a number of grow- ing health problems that are linked to poor eating habits that begin in childhood. In Worcester County, 27 percent of adults were considered obese as of 2013, compared with 24 percent statewide. When it comes to children, 2015 data show that 11 percent of kids in the state are obese. Juliana Cohen, who teaches health and nutrition at Merrimack College and Harvard University, said that, by and large, requiring better nutrition in Students at North High School in Worcester select lunches on June 8. The Worcester Public Schools and others have adopted healthier menus under federal guidelines in recent years. Donna Lombardi P H O T O S / N A T H A N F I S K E

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