CFA submitted the following comments to the U.S. Department of Agriculture in response to USDA’s interim final rule that weakens school nutrition standards on whole-wheat and sodium, and allows schools to serve more chocolate and other sugary “flavored” milk products. USDA promulgated the current school nutrition standards in 2012. Since then, Congress passed a series of appropriations “riders” that provided carve-outs and delays of the standards. The most recent of these expired in December of last year. In its interim final rule, USDA calls the riders “a clear Congressional message to USDA” to take action to revise “regulatory provisions limiting fluid milk, whole grain-rich, and sodium options.” CFA’s comments object to USDA’s invoking expired appropriations riders to put into place new school nutrition standards without the benefit of public comment, and the comments urge the Department to carry out its ongoing legal mandate to develop and implement standards on the basis of the Dietary Guidelines for Americans.
