Secretary of Agriculture tells school nutrition professionals meeting in Atlanta what they already knew: Students who are throwing away their lunches will be challenged to learn

U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue on Wednesday told school nutrition professionals meeting in Atlanta what they already knew: Students who are throwing away their lunches will be challenged to learn.Perdue told the appreciative audience of about 7,000 -- members of the School Nutrition Association gathered for a conference -- that his goal as secretary of agriculture is to remove the bookkeeping headaches and menu problems distracting them from doing their real job of feeding kids nutritious and appealing meals.“If children do not eat the food, it goes in the trash, and food that is thrown in the trash cannot nourish any child. And frankly that trash can does not need any nourishment,” said Perdue, noting his mother taught English for 42 years and his 14 grandchildren serve as a “focus group” for his school lunch research.Perdue in May announced that USDA would allow greater flexibility in nutrition requirements for school meal programs and would work to restore local control of guidelines on whole grains, sodium and milk.Nutritional targets for schools spearheaded by the Obama administration required schools to cut the amount of sodium and refined grains in meals and serve chocolate skim milk, among other rules. Perdue’s action gives schools more time to lower sodium in foods and meet the whole-grain requirements. It also allows flavored milk with 1 percent fat.Perdue told the group in Atlanta that school nutritionists told him they were spending too much time interpreting guidelines, implementing regulations and preparing for audits. In addition, vendors were opting not to bid on school contracts due to the complexities, driving up food costs for schools, he said.He asked the nutritionists to provide additional feedback as USDA works through the process of finding permanent solutions to ensure school meals are both nutritious and appetizing for children.