Lunchables with 'enhanced nutrition' to be part of US school lunch programs

Ready-to-eat packaged meals - known as Lunchables that are sold in grocery stores and have sustained generations of American school children should be served directly to students as part of school programs. school lunches starting in the fall.

But Heinz, the Pittsburgh-based company that makes them, first had to change its ingredients to meet federal nutrition regulations .

Kraft Heinz Executive Vice President Carlos Abrams-Rivera said the company has produced two new varieties of specially formulated Lunchables containing "enhanced nutrition" to that they can be part of the National School Lunch program, which provides lunch daily to nearly 30 million students across the United States.

Modified Lunchables meet program standards, Abrams-Rivera said.

Heinz's website shows that these products look at least very similar to the ones that parents have often bought in st ores and given to their children to take to school: "Lunchables Turkey and Cheddar Cracker Stackers" and "Lunchables Extra Cheesy Pizza". But, if they were really designed to be more nutritious, they will certainly taste different, an expert warned.

The Heinz manager said that each of his New Lunchables offerings contain two-ounce MMA (meat/meat alternative) equivalents, one ounce cereal equivalent and meet the National School Lunch Program's "High Whole Grain Criteria".

The new rollout of Lunchables comes amid changes the U.S. Department of Agriculture has made to school food programs aimed at reducing sugar and sodium levels. Schools are required to offer meals containing five meal components: fruit, vegetables, protein, grains and milk.

Under new proposals, schools are encouraged to use more locally grown foods. The USDA said it plans to invest $100 million in a Healthy Meals Incentives initiative providing farm-to-school grants and replacing kitchen equipment set up in the 1980s as schools were switching to prepackaged processed foods.

Last month, US Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack told CNN the purpose of the changes was "to improve the health and well-being of our children".

The changes come as childhood obesity rates have become a "serious problem", according to the Centers for United States Disease Control and Prevention. The agency recorded obesity - often linked to high blood pressure, high cholesterol, type 2 diabetes, respiratory problems and joint problems - prevalent among almost 20% of children and adolescents aged 2 to 19 years old from 2017 to 2019.

The disease was found to be more prevalent in certain populations: about a quarter of Hispanic and non-Hispanic black children, 16% of non-Hispanic white children and 9.0% of non-Hispanic Asian children.

Activists for school nutrition standards said they are studying Lunchables' offerings to see if they meet National School Lunch Program guidelines, as Heinz claims.

"Kraft Heinz has been promoting it for some time now to schools and state organizations", said Meghan Maroney, head of the federal nutrition campaign for kids at the Center for Science in the Public Interest, ABC News.< /p>

If the new Lunchables respond well to the guid elines, Maroney added, they'll taste "different "of those that have long been sold in stores because of their low sodium and saturated fat content. "It can be confusing for children," she added.