The Biden administration is set to boost the health standards of meals provided in public schools across the U.S.
The plan is to reduce the amount of sugars, salt and fat used to prepare foods for meals like school lunch and breakfast. It's a similar plan to that of the Obama administration's Health, Hunger Free Kids Act, which required schools to provide more fruits, veggies, whole grains and fat free or low fat milks.
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said raising the nutritional standards of school meals is key to children's overall success.
"This is a national security imperative. It's a healthcare imperative for our children. It's an equity issue. It's an educational achievement issue. And it's an economic competitiveness issue," he said.
The new rules are set to roll out over the next several years with the hope that by 2024, 80 percent of grains in schools will be whole.
"School meals happen to be the meals with the highest nutritional value of any meal that children can get outside the home," Vislack said.
However, the plan to increase the health benefits of foods for youth is not universally shared. Advocates for the dairy industry say they are concerned. Some school officials also say the rolled back ingredients will limit which food menu options, which could ultimately push students toward less healthier options.
"Most districts allow students to leave campus. They'll be hitting the convenience stores, the fast-food restaurants," Michael Gasper, nutrition services supervisor for Holmen, Wisconsin school district, said.
The newly-formed Boutique Fitness Alliance allege the city has no proof fitness classes are more likely to spread coronavirus than typical gyms.
As the school year starts up in the middle of the pandemic, the town of East Hampton, Long Island is getting ready to welcome new faces in their classrooms.
Eli Lilly may have developed a promising new coronavirus treatment, and Andrew Adams, vice pesident of new therapeutic modalities and COVID-19 research at the pharma giant, joined Cheddar to talk about the alleged breakthrough.
Forecasters have run out of traditional names for storms in the record-shattering 2020 hurricane season.
U.S. health officials are dropping a controversial piece of coronavirus guidance and telling all those who have been in close contact with infected people to get tested.
An Associated Press review found growing allegations that a gynecologist performed surgeries and other procedures that detained migrant women never sought or didn’t fully understand.
College towns across the U.S. have emerged as virus hot spots in recent weeks as schools struggle to contain the virus.
As the U.S. treks into the 7th month of the coronavirus pandemic, trust in government agencies and top medical officials is dropping among Republican voters. Dr. Richard Besser, president and CEO of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, joined Cheddar to discuss how people can navigate advice from medical professionals as some guidances are deemed political.
Hurricane Sally has lumbered ashore near Gulf Shores, Alabama, as a Category 2 storm, with top winds of 105 mph.
Less than five weeks after the conference announced it would push football and other fall sports to spring because of the pandemic, the conference changed course.
