At SNA’s Annual National Conference (ANC) in Charlotte this July, USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins announced USDA’s Healthier School Meals Pledge during the closing general session. Shortly thereafter, USDA released additional information about the pledge, along with a message encouraging state governors to support the effort.

SNA and its industry partners view the pledge as the clearest signal yet of where the next proposed rule may be headed. Many items in the pledge are already common practice in schools and have been for years. The real work for industry will be identifying the changes most likely to create operational, manufacturing, cost, procurement and student acceptance challenges...