School meals will have to offer fruits and vegetables to students every day under standards issued by the United States Department of Agriculture on Wednesday . The meal programs , which feed about 32 million students in public and private schools , will have to reduce sodium , saturated fat and trans fats . Schools must also offer more whole grains as well as fat-free or low-fat milk varieties . These standards go into effect July 1 and will be phased in over a three-year period , according to the USDA . The new nutrition standards are largely based on recommendations by the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies , as part of efforts to curb childhood obesity . Recent numbers show that about 17 % of children in the United States are obese . Under the new rules , school meals will have calorie minimums and maximums per meal based on the child 's age . For kindergarteners to fifth-graders , meals must contain 550 to 650 calories , and for 9th- to 12th-graders , meals must have 450 to 600 calories . Children will not be forced to take the vegetables and fruits onto their plates ; the standards require that the various food groups be offered . Health groups reacted to the rules mostly favorably , although a controversy erupted in November after Congress decided that two tablespoons of tomato sauce was good enough to categorize a slice of pizza as a vegetable . Kevin Concannon , the USDA under secretary for Food , Nutrition and Consumer Services , said he was n't concerned with the tomato paste controversy at this point . `` I 'm confident we have a core healthy set of proposed diets for children , '' he said . `` We can , within that , accommodate those recommendations received from Congress . '' Food and beverages sold in vending machines will also have to meet nutritional standards . First lady Michelle Obama and USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack unveiled the standards Wednesday . `` When we send our kids to school , we expect that they wo n't be eating the kind of fatty , salty , sugary foods that we try to keep them from eating at home , '' Obama said in a news release . `` We want the food they get at school to be the same kind of food we would serve at our own kitchen tables . '' The USDA offered a weekly sample lunch menu with before and after comparisons . Before the new rules , a standard elementary school lunch menu might consist of cheese pizza , canned pineapple , tater tots and chocolate milk . A healthier meal under the new standards would have whole-wheat cheese pizza , baked sweet potato fries , raw grape tomatoes , low-fat ranch dip , applesauce and low-fat milk . Some parts of the major revamp of school lunches have been rejected by students . The Los Angeles Times reported in December that students trashed the untouched healthier meals and started a booming underground market for junk food . Cafeteria workers in Chicago Public Schools reported that kids were not eating the healthy meals , according to the Chicago Tribune . `` If it 's not delicious , kids are n't going to eat it , '' said Sam Kass , assistant White House chef . `` I have lots of confidence in school chefs across the country who are working very hard to try to put delicious foods on the plates of kids . '' He cited a Chefs Move to Schools Program , involving 35,000 school chefs who strive to innovate for better-tasting , healthy meals for kids . The new standards are expected to cost $ 3.2 billion over the next five years , which was less than the initial estimated price , according to the USDA . The Healthy , Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010 gave the federal government more authority to set standards for food sold in vending machines and elsewhere on school grounds . `` The new school meal standards are one of the most important advances in nutrition in decades , '' said Margo Wootan , nutrition policy director at the Center for Science in the Public Interest . `` They 're much needed , given high childhood obesity rates and the poor state of our children 's diets . '' The School Nutrition Association , which represents 55,000 school nutrition professionals , said , `` Through healthier choices and nutrition education , school meal programs have made tremendous strides to promote better food choices for America 's students . These national nutrition standards will help school nutrition professionals build on their successes . ''
School meals will have to offer fruits and vegetables to students every day . USDA rules affect both public and private schools . Comment: