The study found that more than 85 percent of schools offered reimbursable lunches that met USDA standards for key target nutrients—protein, vitamin A, vitamin C, calcium, and iron—but none of the schools served lunches that met the sodium benchmark, and only one in three served...

Bringing school meals in line with the 2005 Dietary Guidelines will involve more than changing nutrient standards and revising menu planning regulations. SNDA-III provides evidence that, despite the hard work of many individuals, schools, and organizations, SMI goals were not fully achieved....

SNDA-III provides detailed information on the operation of school meal programs, the school environment that affects these programs, the nutrient content of school meals, and the contribution of school meals to students’ diets. Mathematica collected data for the study during school year...

Dietary Reference Intakes (DRIs) are the most recent set of nutrient-based reference standards, which, together with recommended dietary assessment methods, are used to update estimates of nutrient adequacy for population subgroups. Recent estimates suggest both dietary deficiencies and excesses...