The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has completed its review of a proposed rule from USDA that identifies flexibilities for milk, whole grains, and sodium requirements under Child Nutrition Programs.
The plan was forwarded to OMB October 28 and one meeting was scheduled on the rule—with the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) and NANA (National Alliance for Nutrition and Activity) coalition.
The proposed rule comes after a court in April sent the final rule released in 2019 back to USDA for “further proceedings.” CSPI was party to the suit on USDA's final rule, arguing the final rule did not reflect a logical outgrowth of the interim final rule originally issued by USDA.
The U.S. District Court in Maryland agreed, saying the final rule was not keeping with the “original scheme” of the notice and comments that were filed on the interim final rule, as that “spoke exclusively to terms of delaying compliance requirements, not abandoning the compliance requirements altogether.”
The final rule delayed the compliance date for some provisions and eliminated another along with changing requirements on whole grains so that only half of the grain-based foods needed to be whole-grain-rich.
It is not clear when the proposed rule will be released, but child nutrition advocates like CSPI and others will obviously monitor the situation closely to make sure USDA followed the court action.