Local students join White House officials in tasting school meal with less sugar, salt

Lincoln Park -- Kids have no filters when it comes to opinions on food, so when 13-year-old Jaxton Taucher bit into a whole-grain ham and cheese croissant during a taste testing at his school cafeteria, he chewed and pondered.

"It's cheesy," the 8th grader at Lincoln Park Middle School said, looking around the room, nodding his head. "It's good cheesy."

Taucher was sampling food alongside five of his peers and White House officials — U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack and Second Gentleman Douglas Emhoff — who were in Metro Detroit on Friday as part of a school visit and media event to discuss updated rules by U.S. Department of Agriculture on nutrition standards for school meals.

School meals in Michigan and across the nation are getting new nutrition standards that limit added sugars for the first time, department officials said. The rule also cuts sodium in kids' meals.

Vilsack said the Biden administration not only focuses on food insecurity across the nation but nutrition insecurity.

"We have an opportunity to impact 30 million lives every single day in a way that will be positive for their development," Vilsack said, referring the federal food program that provides breakfasts to more than 15 million students and lunches to nearly 30 million students every day at a cost of about $22.6 billion per year.

Vilsack, who also worked for President Obama, touted Michigan for its work to provide children access to healthy school meals. In Michigan, the legislature approved and Gov. Whitmer signed into law the Michigan School Meals Program for fiscal year 2024, which provides one breakfast and one lunch to each public school student at no cost.

"This is a state that moved quickly to essentially say we want every child to have to access to a decent school meal and breakfast. That is a reflection of the values of Michiganders," Vilsack said.

Emhoff, who is married to Vice President Kamala Harris, said events like the one in Detroit are important because they provide the opportunity to promote healthy eating for America's children, incorporate locally grown food, and support American farmers and local products.

"We want less sugar and less sodium but we also want the kids to eat the meals, so they have to taste good," Emhoff said.

"We are listening to families but we also listen to the kids," Emhoff said. "These standards are practical, these are doable, achievable. And it's what people want. This reflects what we are hearing as part of the administration from parents, from teachers, from administrators and from those in the food industry. We all want this and it's going to help everyone."

The new rules are effective July 1 but the USDA is phasing in required changes over time, federal officials said.

The limits on added sugars would be required in the 2025-26 school year, starting with high-sugar foods such as cereal, yogurt and flavored milk. By the fall of 2027, added sugars in school meals would be limited to 10% or less of the total calories per week for breakfasts and lunches and limits on sugar in some products.

The agency will reduce sodium levels allowed in breakfasts by 10% and in lunches by 15% by the 2027-28 school year.

Laura Bruno, a registered dietician and president of the company Buena Vista Food Products, a K-12 food manufacturer that makes the croissant and a breakfast muffin, said she uses all natural ingredients such as organic flour, sweet potato puree and oatmeal.

"It's got that hidden vegetable in it that the kids don’t notice. It's great nutrition with Vitamin A and it brings the moisture so we don’t have to add as much sugar to the product," Bruno said, standing at a table with sample-sized portions of her products shipped to schools across the nation.

Diane Golzynski, a deputy superintendent at the Michigan Department of Education who participated in a roundtable discussion with Vilsack and Emhoff, said the rules changes for school meals are part of keeping up with changing dietary guidelines for Americans.

"They change every five years. We need to keep our nutrition standards for our child nutrition programs in line with dietary guidelines," Golzynski said. "This assures the meals we are serving are in line with the most recent science and that our kids have the ability to continue to learn and grow with the best nutrition possible."

Tasting events like the one held inside the school help students get involved and allow kids to provide feedback to manufacturers, Golzynski said.

"We need everyone to be involved in the selection process of what foods are served so that kids are interested in what's there, but also want to eat it when it's served," Golzynski said.

U.S. Sen. Debbie Stabenow said Michigan grows more fruits and vegetables than any other state other than California.

"This is a whole food movement that involves sustainability, healthy foods, jobs in local communities... a whole vision that will make us healthier, create jobs, help us tackle the climate crisis and make sure our kids are getting what they need to be healthy," Stabenow said.

jchambers@detroitnews.com