NORWICH – With federal legislators ready to discuss school lunch nutrition standards that will affect schools across the country, many food service administrators are weighing in on what they would like to see change and what should stay the same.

Congress is debating child nutrition standards and school meals this week as the federal Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act is set to expire Sept. 30. Implemented in 2010, the legislation authorizes funding and sets policy for USDA’s core child nutrition programs: the National School Lunch Program, the School Breakfast Program, the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC), the Summer Food Service Program, and the Child and Adult Care Food Program.

The Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act allows USDA to make real reforms to the school lunch and breakfast programs by improving the critical nutrition and hunger safety net for millions of children.

Nutrition and calorie intake standards vary depending on grade level. Elementary K-5 have their own criteria while middle school grades 6-8 have a different set; and high schools have another.

Those requirements, however, come at a cost and don’t always ensure that kids get proper nutrients, explained Norwich City School District Food Service Director Randy White.