![\"American](\"http:\/\/www.clarksvilleonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/12\/American-Heart-Association-new-logo-480x230.jpg\" "\\"American"){kind=logo}
Washington, D.C. – The American Heart Association issued the following statement in response to the final rule on school nutrition standards issued this month by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).<\/p>\nWashington, D.C. – The American Heart Association issued the following statement in response to the final rule on school nutrition standards issued this month by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).<\/p>\n
The rule eliminates the final sodium target, decreases the amount of whole grains, and allows 1 percent flavored milk in school meals.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe hope all schools reject this regulation and continue their commitment to serve healthier foods on our kids\u2019 plates. Many schools declared they would do just that when these changes were first announced late last year. With nearly 100 percent of the nation\u2019s schools already complying with the school meal standards that were released in 2012, children across the country are clearly benefiting.<\/p>\n \u201cUSDA\u2019s decision to weaken the standards \u2013 despite overwhelming opposition \u2013 threatens to reverse our progress toward ensuring our nation\u2019s children receive healthy meals at school that help them attain better long-term health and academic success. If the concern truly was to provide those few schools experiencing challenges with more \u2018flexibility\u2019, the more responsible approach would have been for USDA to provide more technical assistance to these institutions so they could offer healthier food choices.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen it comes to our children\u2019s health, there should be no \u2018flexibility.\u2019 Failing to meet the science-based sodium standards for school meals originally adopted by USDA will put kids\u2019 health in jeopardy.<\/p>\n \u201cWe strongly believe that all<\/em> schools can meet the original nutrition standards. It is in the best interests of our children for schools to keep moving in that direction, despite this latest USDA rule.\u201d<\/p>\n The American Heart Association\u2019s comment letter on USDA\u2019s interim final rule is available here<\/a>.<\/p>\n The American Heart Association is a leading force for a world of longer, healthier lives. With nearly a century of lifesaving work, the Dallas-based association is dedicated to ensuring equitable health for all. We are a trustworthy source empowering people to improve their heart health, brain health and well-being. We collaborate with numerous organizations and millions of volunteers to fund innovative research, advocate for stronger public health policies, and share lifesaving resources and information.<\/p>\n Connect with us on heart.org<\/a>, Facebook<\/a>, Twitter<\/a> or by calling 1.800.AHA.USA1.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" American Heart Association Washington, D.C. – The American Heart Association issued the following statement in response to the final rule on school nutrition standards issued this month by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). The rule eliminates the final sodium target, decreases the amount of whole grains, and allows 1 percent flavored milk in school […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[86],"tags":[2538,3763,12270,2866,1457,1458,3338],"class_list":["post-14195","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-health","tag-american-heart-association","tag-grains","tag-national-school-lunch-program","tag-sodium","tag-u-s-department-of-agriculture","tag-usda","tag-washington-d-c"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.paristn.net\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14195","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.paristn.net\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.paristn.net\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.paristn.net\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.paristn.net\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14195"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.paristn.net\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14195\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14196,"href":"https:\/\/www.paristn.net\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14195\/revisions\/14196"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.paristn.net\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14195"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.paristn.net\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14195"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.paristn.net\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14195"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Stay](\"http:\/\/www.clarksvilleonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/Eat-More-Color.jpg\" "\\"Stay")
<\/a><\/p>\nAbout the American Heart Association<\/h3>\n