By following the science and listening to extensive feedback from all school meal partners, the USDA is making updates to the school nutrition standards in a few key areas to give children the right balance of many nutrients for healthy, tasty meals. General Mills Foodservice is here to help with strong partnerships and delicious, regulation-compliant options students love. Learn More →
Check out each card for more information on these four key areas.
Added Sugars
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For the first time, added sugars will be limited in school meals. Starting in school year 2025–26, product-based limits for cereal, yogurt, and flavored milk must be implemented, and starting in school year 2027–28, weekly added sugar limits must be implemented in addition to the product-based limits. Operators participating in the Child and Adult Care Food Program will need to meet the product-based limits for added sugar for cereal and yogurt, which replaces the current total sugar level, starting October 1, 2025. Be sure to see our Added Sugar Product Guide for more information.
Whole Grains
Current nutrition standards for whole grains will not change. Schools will continue to offer students a variety of nutritious whole grain-rich foods and have the option to offer some enriched grains to meet students’ cultural and taste preferences. See Three Reasons Grains Are Worth It and download helpful, student-facing assets.
Sodium
Schools will need to reduce sodium content in their meals starting in School Year 2027–28. Schools will maintain the current sodium limits until that time. In response to public comments, USDA is only requiring one sodium reduction and not the two incremental reductions at breakfast and three at lunch that were proposed last year. This change still helps lower the sodium content of school meals and gives schools and the industry the lead time they need to prepare. See our Sodium Tracker Guide to help with these new regulations.
Milk
Schools can continue to offer flavored and unflavored milk, but there will be a new limit on added sugars in flavored milk offered at breakfast and lunch and for flavored milk sold as a competitive food in middle and high schools starting in School Year 2025–26. Thirty-seven school milk processors — representing more than 90% of the school milk volume nationwide — have already committed to providing nutritious school milk options that meet this new limit. Embrace the power of dairy with these useful insights and delicious recipes.
View our USDA execution guide
“Research shows that school meals are the most nutritious food source for American School Children.”
- USDA Food & Nutrition Service
To help you communicate these changes, we’ve created this customizable letter for you to hand out at school events.
Get the Letter (English) Get the Letter (Spanish)
Be sure everyone is aware of the delicious, regulation-ready choices available on your menus with these free resources.
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See how General Mills Foodservice is leading the way with regulation-ready choices that align with new USDA school nutrition standards.
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Join General Mills Foodservice as we explore the updated nutrition standards and meal patterns for the School Breakfast and National School Lunch Program, set to begin in School Year 2025–2026. In this webinar, Chef Heather Swan and Lesley Shiery, MS, RD, will review these changes and provide inspiration for incorporating them into school menus.
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