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Nutrition Guidelines

Setting Nutrition Guidelines for All Foods and Beverages
Available on School Campuses During the School Day

Students' lifelong eating habits are greatly influenced by the types of foods and beverages available in their daily environment. In addition to ensuring that reimbursable school meals meet program requirements and nutrition standards, schools must also establish standards or guidelines to address all foods and beverages sold or served to students, including those available outside of the school meal programs.

Sample Policy Language

The following are samples of policy areas to consider while setting nutrition standards for all available foods and beverages on school campus during the school day. Policies should focus on guidelines for maximizing nutritional value by decreasing fat and added sugars, increasing nutrition density and moderating portion size of each individual food or beverage sold within the school environment. The following policy areas are adapted from USDA's Changing the Scene.

• The school district sets guidelines for foods and beverages in a la carte sales in the food service program on school campuses.

• The school district sets guidelines for foods and beverages sold in vending machines, snack bars, school stores, and concession stands on school campuses.

• The school district sets guidelines for foods and beverages sold as part of school-sponsored fundraising activities.

• The school district sets guidelines for refreshments served at parties, celebrations, and meetings during the school day.

• The school district makes decisions on these guidelines based on nutrition goals, not on profit making.

Examples of Existing State and School District Policies Regarding
Nutrition Guidelines for foods and beverages

• Guidelines for Nutritious Choices in Vending Machines, a sample school board policy from the Colorado Department of Education.

• North Carolina's Eat Smart: recommended standards for all foods available in school [PDF]

• Wisconsin Nutrition and Physical Activity State Plan

• USDA's Healthier US School Challenge [PDF] has set voluntary guidelines for foods and beverages available on elementary school campuses as a part of the Silver and Gold award certification.

• The School Nutrition Association maintains a database of State and district level nutrition policies.

• The National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) maintains a database of current state legislation pertaining to vending machines in schools.

Resources and Implementation Tools

The following links are resources, programs, and curricula related to nutrition guidelines.

- Resources from government agencies

• Making it Happen: School Nutrition Success Stories, a joint publication released by USDA's Team Nutrition and CDC, shares innovative changes that have improved the nutritional quality of all foods and beverages offered on school campuses. The stories offer a variety of approaches from 32 schools and districts.

• Dietary Guidelines for Healthy Americans, released by USDA and DHHS, includes resources for "putting the guidelines into practice." There are also many resources for implementing the dietary guidelines available at MyPyramid.gov.

• Colorado's Nutritious School Vending: Step-by-Step Guide to Implement CO Senate Bill 04-103 [PDF]

- Resources from non-governmental organizations

• Resources to Improve Schools, a database maintained by Action for Healthy Kids, gives information on specific nutrition and meal programs and their implementation.

• Keys to Excellence: Standard of Practice for Nutrition Integrity, published by the School Nutrition Association (SNA, formerly American School Food Service Association), this tool identifies the elements of a quality school nutrition program. It provides an easy-to-use evaluation form for assessing program quality and tracking progress in developing and implementing plans to achieve goals.

• The Quick and Easy Way to School Health

• The Food Trust, a non-profit organization founded in 1992 with its mission to mission is to ensure that everyone has access to affordable, nutritious food, has dedicated sections of it's website to toolkits about Reforming School Foods and Beverages and Creating Comprehensive School Nutrition Policies.

• School Foods Tool Kit is a resource guide from the Center for Policy in the Public Interest (CSPI). It outlines ways to implement food guidelines and the programs that improve the nutritional value of foods on campuses.

• Policy In Action: a guide to implementing your local school wellness policy. Developed by the California Project LEAN and the University of California, Center for Weight and Health. This guide focuses on implementing the physical activity and food and veverage guideline components of your local wellness policy. It is intended for individuals at the ground level who are responsible for or involved with implementing local school wellness policies.