The National School Lunch Program (NSLP) is a federally assisted, state administered meal program that provides nutritionally balanced low-cost or no-cost meals to children in schools every day. Signed into law under President Truman in 1946, it assisted roughly 7.1 million children in its first year. In fiscal year 2018 the NSLP reached just under 30 million children and provided 4.8 billion lunches.
This program is in place to help keep our children hunger-free, healthy, and give them the energy to perform well in school and extra-curricular activities. It has been shown time and time again that students who consume a nutritionally sound diet are more likely to have higher attendance and perform better academically than students who skip meals, don’t eat enough or make poor diet choices.
This is where the NSLP comes into play. The federal government through the NSLP puts restrictions on sodium, added sugar, and saturated fat, aspects of a diet related to increased risk for heart disease and obesity, and minimum requirements for whole grains, fruits, vegetables, and proteins, those portions of a diet related to increased satiety and lasting energy. These requirements and restrictions change slightly based on the grade of a child to reflect the dietary needs of those age groups.
School lunches are kept at the low prices they are because of federal compensation given to the school districts based on how many qualifying meals they serve. For a school taking part in the NSLP to receive this compensation, a qualifying meal is one that falls under the restrictions and meets the requirements of the NSLP. Children are also eligible for free- or reduced-cost meals based on their participation through certain federal programs like the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).
The NSLP is constantly changing to provide the best fit for American schools. The nutritional requirements had a major revamp as a result of the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010 and, more recently, were relaxed in 2018 to give schools’ greater autonomy in food choices. These changes come from the research-based guidelines given by the United States Department of Agriculture’s Food and Nutrition Service and from there school district personnel make the changes we see in our schools’ menus.