• Posted July 27, 2026

Popular School Cafeteria Meals Need An Update To Meet Healthy Food Standards, Researchers Say

Spicy chicken wings, tacos, pizza, sausage biscuits and breakfast smoothies offered by school cafeterias must be reinvented, lest they vanish from the menu, a new study says.

These items all contain loads of added sugar and salt that won’t fly under new U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) limits set to take effect in fall 2027, researchers reported recently in the journal Nutrition Reviews.

“School meals are designed to meet nutrition standards, and for many children, they are among the most balanced meals they eat," said senior researcher Aleshia Hall-Campbell, executive director of the Institute of Child Nutrition at the University of Mississippi.

"But because students may eat school breakfast and lunch many times each week, the nutrition quality of those meals matters,” she said in a news release. “Reducing added sugars and sodium is not about blaming school meals. It is about using school meals as an opportunity to support children's health while still serving foods students enjoy."

For the new study, researchers compared current cafeteria fare against USDA requirements to reduce sodium and sugar in school meals by the start of the 2027-28 school year.

The team surveyed nearly 1,100 school nutrition professionals to determine what schools serve and what students eat most often. They then reviewed recipes for those items to identify the foods highest in sugar and salt.

Popular breakfast treats like muffins, yogurt parfaits and breakfast smoothies contained loads of added sugars, researchers found. Sausage biscuits and breakfast pizzas were highest in sodium.

Lunchtime offerings like flavored wings, tacos and nachos also came with heavy loads of salt, researchers found.

Chicken wing recipes alone averaged more than 2,100 milligrams of sodium per serving, nearly meeting the daily limit of no more than 2,300 milligrams set by the USDA for adults, researchers said.

Researchers said they created this list to give nutrition experts a chance to create healthier versions of the meals students prefer.

"For families, the practical point is that these changes are not about taking away foods students enjoy," researcher Ruaa Al Juboori, an assistant professor of public health, said in a news release. “They are about making the foods already served in schools a little healthier while keeping them familiar, flavorful and appealing to students.

"This matters because school meals reach many children every day,” Al Juboori said. “For students who eat breakfast and lunch at school, even small changes in added sugar and sodium can make a difference over time."

Dietitians can come up with recipes that substitute herbs and spices for excess salt and sugar, but these changes will succeed only if students like the altered offerings, researchers said.

"While sodium and sugar make foods taste good, herbs and spices can also add flavor to the foods we eat," said lead researcher Marjuyua Lartey Gibson, director of the Institute of Child Nutrition’s Applied Research Division at the University of Southern Mississippi.

"School nutrition professionals should explore flavor enhancers, such as spices like cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger for sweetness, and salt substitutes like herbs – rosemary, thyme, garlic and paprika – to minimize sodium,” Lartey Gibson said in a news release. "Taste testing and student feedback are also important, because the best recipe change is one that students will actually eat."

If successful, updated cafeteria fare could help children and teens adopt healthy eating habits they will carry into adulthood, researchers said.

"School meals alone do not determine a child's lifelong eating habits, but they can play an important role," Hall-Campbell said. "Children are exposed to foods at school again and again, so school meals can help shape what students see as normal, familiar and acceptable.

“That is why balance is important. We want students to enjoy their meals, but we also want them to become familiar with foods that are lower in added sugar and sodium and still taste good,” Hall-Campbell concluded.

More information

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has more about updates to school nutrition standards.

SOURCES: University of Mississippi, news release, July 23, 2026; Nutrition Reviews, July 23, 2026