New Meal Pattern Training
Slide Notes
Presenter Information
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The presenter notes for each slide are directly under the slide number and title.
Notes that are directly correlated with each slide are underlined.
Resources and forms that are referenced are underlined and capitalized.
Points of emphasis are bolded.
Additional information regarding the presentation and/or questions to ask the audience is
indicated with bolded text and asterisks.
– Review the slides and notes together before presenting; also, if using the Power Point
features, review the slide show.
– It would be most helpful to have a remote for the projector, as well as a laser pointer to
indicate specific areas on the slides.
Slide 1: New Meal Pattern
Slide 2: New Provisions
The final rule requires some new provisions for the NSLP.
One of the first new requirements is the new grade groupings. This requirement became
effective July 1, 2012 and SY 2012-2013 for lunch. It will become effective for breakfast in SY
2013-2014.
Also, there is now only one menu planning approach which is a food-based system.
Offer vs. Serve has changed as well. Students must select a fruit or vegetable component for a
meal to be reimbursable.
The required amount for each grade group must be offered; students must select at least ½ cup.
Slide 3: New Provisions
The new meal pattern for lunch includes 5 components: Fruit, Vegetable, Grain, Meat/Meat
Alternate and Milk.
Each component has specific provisions:
 Fruit must be offered daily;
 Vegetable subgroups must be offered weekly;
 At least half of the grains offered must be whole grain-rich;
 Offer weekly ranges of meat/meat alternate; and
 All flavored milk offered must be fat-free, unflavored milk may be low-fat or fat-free.
Slide 4: New Provisions
There are also four dietary specifications that must be met. There are weekly average
requirements for calories, sodium and saturated fat and a daily requirement for trans fat.
Menus need to be planned to meet specific calorie ranges for each grade grouping.
The sodium content limits, averaged over the course of a week, will gradually be reduced over
the next ten years. The first target limit that must be met will not be required until SY 20142015; however, it would be a good idea to start looking at your menus and recipes now to see
what changes can be made.
The saturated and trans fat limit remains the same.
Slide 5: Lunch Meal Pattern (chart)
This is the new meal pattern for lunch.
There is a copy of the full meal pattern chart in your packets for your convenience.
***Let’s review the requirements for each of the components.***
Slide 6: Fruits
Fruits and vegetables are now two separate components.
Fresh, frozen without added sugar, canned (in light syrup or juice) or dried fruit may be offered.
¼ cup dried fruit is now credited as ½ cup fruit.
No more than half the fruit servings may be offered as juice and only 100% juice may be
offered.
Continue to use the Food Buying Guide for Child Nutrition Programs for crediting fruit. A revised
version of the Guide for fruits and vegetables has been distributed to all child nutrition
directors.
Slide 7: Fruits
This slide shows the fruit component for lunch. You can see that there is a requirement of 2.5
to 5 cups of fruit at lunch, per week, depending on the grade group being served. The numbers
in parentheses refer to the minimum amount to be served daily.
Slide 8: Vegetables
For lunch, the new meal pattern requires a daily serving of vegetables (the amount in
parentheses). The new rule seeks to give children access to a variety of vegetables by requiring
weekly minimums of all vegetable subgroups. However, on any given day there are no specific
subgroup requirement amounts.
The subgroups required each week consist of dark green, red/orange, beans/peas (legumes),
starchy, and other. Additional vegetables will be needed to meet the total vegetable weekly
requirement.
Slide 9: Vegetables – Dark Green
Let’s look at some of the vegetables that are in each of the subgroups.
We’ll begin with the dark green subgroup. You must offer at least ½ cup of a dark green
vegetable every week (for each grade grouping). Examples include:

Bok choy in a stir fry;

Broccoli on the salad/garden bar;

Dark green leafy lettuce and/or spinach in a salad;

Kale added to soup; and

Chopped romaine in salads, tacos or wraps.
A written local recipe will be needed for any combination foods to determine how it meets the
meal pattern. There are more suggestions for dark green vegetables at
www.choosemyplate.gov.
Slide 10: Vegetables – Dark Green
Another new part of the Food Based Meal Pattern is the crediting of leafy greens.
Raw leafy green vegetables count as ½ of the measured amount.
So, 1 cup of raw leafy greens counts as ½ cup of vegetable.
½ cup cooked greens counts as ½ cup vegetable.
Slide 11: Vegetables – Red & Orange
Now, let’s look at the Red/Orange vegetable subgroup.
You must offer ¾ cup of red or orange vegetables weekly for grade groups K-5 and 6-8 and 1¼
cups for grades 9-12.
What are some red and orange vegetables?

Acorn squash may be baked or roasted;

Carrots may be served raw on the salad bar or baked with an orange glaze;

Sweet potatoes may be offered baked or as a delicious side dish;

Red bell peppers may be served raw in strips to add color to other raw veggies or
offered in a stir fry;

Butternut squash may be baked to add variety to the monthly menu; and

Tomatoes may be served fresh or in sauce.
There are more suggestions for red and orange vegetables at www.choosemyplate.gov.
Slide 12: Vegetables – Beans and Peas
In regards to Beans and Peas (Legumes), be sure to plan at least ½ cup weekly for each grade
grouping.
This subgroup includes:

Black beans, which are great in tacos or as part of a black bean salad;

Kidney beans, which may be used in chili or included in a salad;

Garbanzo beans, which may be added to soups or salads. Hummus, if it contains all
garbanzo beans (no fillers) makes a great dip for other vegetables;

Refried beans, which may be added to nachos or tacos; and

Fresh edamame, which may be added as a specialty item on the salad/garden bar.
Slide 13: Vegetables – Starchy
Next we have Starchy vegetables. Here are some favorites:

Corn – on or off the cob;

Green peas, which are a great addition to the salad/garden bar; and of course,

The great all-American potato – mashed, baked, boiled or served as a baked fry or
wedge.
Slide 14: Vegetables – Other
So, what is the “Other” group?
There are many vegetables that do not fit in the other subgroups. These are labeled “Other”.
Here are just a few: asparagus, beets, cauliflower, cucumbers, green beans, iceberg lettuce,
celery, yellow and green bell peppers and zucchini.
Remember, there are more choices in this subgroup by looking on choosemyplate.gov.
Also, if you have a mixed vegetable dish, it would also be classified as part of the “Other”
subgroup.
Slide 15: Additional Vegetables
The total weekly vegetable requirement is 3¾ cups for grade groups K-5 and 6-8; grades 9-12
require 5 cups.
If you add up the minimum weekly requirements for each grade grouping, they do not equal the
total amount of vegetables that need to be offered for the week.
You will need to add 1 additional cup for grade levels K-5 and 6-8; grades 9-12 will need an
additional 1½ cups.
Any vegetable subgroup may be offered to meet the total weekly vegetable requirement.
Slide 16: Fruits and Vegetables
It is up to the menu planner to determine the serving sizes and the number of servings needed
to meet the meal pattern requirement (e.g. ¾ cup of veggies daily for grades K-5 or 1 cup daily
for grades 9-12).
The menu planner has options on how to make this requirement work.
Smaller portions of vegetables may be served, such as ½ cup of corn, in addition to ¼ cup of
tomatoes with an entrée, to meet the ¾ cup vegetable requirement. It is not necessary to
serve ¾ cup of just one vegetable; that ¾ cup may be a combination of various vegetables.
Keep in mind that the smallest creditable amount is ⅛ cup.
⅛ cup of vegetables, alone with no other accompanying vegetables, is not enough to meet the
vegetables component for a reimbursable meal. Additional vegetables must be served to meet
the full ¾ cup or 1 cup offering.
Slide 17: Fruits and Vegetables
A salad/garden bar that includes multiple vegetable subgroups is an easy way to meet the
weekly vegetable subgroup requirement.
Staff must be trained to be able to determine if the fruits and/or vegetables on a student tray
equals 1/2 cup.
Salad/garden bars located after the POS must have State approval and a system in place to
ensure that each student meal includes at least ½ cup of fruit or vegetable to be reimbursable.
Slide 18: Fruits and Vegetables
When multiple serving lines are utilized, each line must offer all the vegetable subgroups
weekly.
Menu planners should use caution when selecting more than one starchy vegetable to avoid
exceeding the calorie maximum limit over the course of the week.
Slide 19: “A Student Selects” Activity
***Let’s look at a plate of food.***
For vegetables, a student selects:
***Click mouse/pointer 6 times for vegetables to appear on the plate.***
¼ cup leafy greens which = 1/8 cup vegetable
1/8 cup carrots
1/8 cup broccoli
1/8 cup tomatoes
1 sugar snap pea
***Is this a reimbursable amount of vegetables?***
Slide 20: “A Student Selects” Activity
Yes! This equals ½ cup and is reimbursable and allowable.
***What if the student did not select tomatoes?***
The meal would NOT be reimbursable because they would only have 3/8 cup total vegetables,
not enough to meet the 1/2 cup requirement.
Slide 21: Grains
Now let’s look at the Grains component. There are weekly minimum and maximum
requirements for the amount of grains that can be offered.
Schools must offer the amount needed to meet the daily minimum requirements:

1 grain serving for K-8 daily; and

2 grain servings for 9-12 daily.
At least half the grains offered must be whole grain-rich by SY 2012-2013.
Beginning SY 2014-2015 all grains offered must be whole grain-rich.
Slide 22: Grains
The biggest change from current practice is a new requirement for whole grain-rich food items.
The weekly grain quantity for each grade grouping is given as a minimum and maximum range.
The chart shows the weekly ranges for the different grade groups (8-9 ounce equivalents for
grades K-5; 8-10 ounce equivalents for grades 6-8; and 10-12 ounce equivalents for grades 912).
***Can schools exceed the upper range of the grains component?***
No. The ranges are the minimum and maximum schools may offer. They are intended to assist
schools to offer grade-appropriate meals within the required calorie ranges.
***If you are planning a menu for grades 6-8 and you offer 10 ounce equivalents that week,
how many ounce equivalents must be whole grain-rich?***
***Click mouse/pointer for answer to appear.***
5 ounce equivalents.
Remember, effective this school year, half the grains offered in a week must be whole grainrich.
Slide 23: Grains
There are two criteria that must be met for whole grain-rich foods.
First, a product must meet the Grains Instruction for serving size requirements.
Second, a product must also meet one of the following:
 Whole grains per serving must be greater than or equal to 8 grams;
 The product includes FDA’s whole grain health claim on its packaging; OR
 The first item on the product ingredient listing is whole grain.
At this time (Fall 2012), the product ingredient listing is the criteria that should be used.
Currently, manufacturers aren’t required to provide information about the grams of whole
grains in their products, and the FDA whole grain health claim is not mandatory.
Slide 24: Grains
There are some weeks that schools are in operation for only 3-4 days. To ensure the correct
amount of components are served weekly on these occasions, a Handout has been included in
the packet that has these adjustments for grains and other meal pattern components.
Since grain-based desserts contribute toward the intake of solid fats and added sugars, USDA
has reduced the number of allowable grain-based desserts at lunch to a maximum of 2 per
week.
Slide 25: Grains
For non-mixed dishes (breads, cereals): Whole grains must be the primary ingredient by weight
(whole grain is the first ingredient in the list with the exception of water). If the whole grain
comes from multiple whole grains, the combined whole grain ingredients may be the primary
ingredient by weight even though a whole grain is not listed as the first ingredient.
For mixed dishes (pizza, chicken patty): Whole grains must be the primary grain ingredient by
weight (a whole grain is the first grain ingredient in the list of grains).
Slide 26: Grains
During SY 2012-2013, battered and/or breaded food products will not need to be counted
toward the meal pattern’s weekly grain requirements.
Beginning July 1, 2013 (SY 2013-2014) all grains, which are part of battered and/or breaded
products offered, must be counted towards the weekly grain requirements.
One quarter (1/4) of an ounce equivalent is the smallest amount allowable to be credited
toward the quantities of grains.
Slide 27: Grains
This is a list of some of the whole grain-rich (WGR) food items that are available through USDA
Foods.
Slide 28: Meat/Meat Alternate
There are now daily and weekly requirements for lunch for the meat/meat alternate
component:
 1 oz may be offered for grades K-8; and
 2 oz daily for grades 9-12.
A variety of meat/meat alternates should be offered each week and throughout the month.
Low-fat and low-sodium entrees, as well as vegetarian offerings are encouraged. Chicken,
turkey, beef, dried beans and peas, tofu, low-fat dairy products, etc. should be offered for
variety and incorporated into entrees, soups, sandwiches and salads.
There are now additional vegetarian protein sources (e.g. tofu and soy yogurt) available. There
is a USDA Memo with the crediting information.
Slide 29: Meat/Meat Alternate
Other meat alternates, such as eggs and cheese, may be used to meet all or part of the
meat/meat alternate component.
Other meat alternates, such as nuts or seeds, may be used to meet no more than one-half of
the meat/meat alternate component and must be paired with another meat/meat alternate to
meet the full requirement.
Two tablespoons of nut butter, almond butter, cashew nut butter, peanut butter, reduced-fat
peanut butter, sesame seed butter, soy nut butter, or sunflower seed butter equals one ounce
of the meat/meat alternate requirement.
Slide 30: Fluid Milk
Milk requirements are in effect for SY 2012-2013.
Two choices must be offered.
The requirements for nutrition standards for milk substitutes have not changed. The USDA
Memo on milk substitutions is still applicable.
Slide 31: Dietary Specifications
In addition to complying with the meal pattern, meals must also meet a few dietary
specifications. These specifications are intended to improve consistency with the Dietary
Guidelines for Americans and the Dietary Reference Intakes.
These specifications are calories, saturated fat, sodium and trans fat.
The standards for calories, saturated fat and sodium are averaged over the school week.
This means that the amount of calories can fall short or exceed the daily standard as long as the
weekly average falls within the range of specifications. In regards to saturated fat and sodium,
the daily amount can exceed the standard on any given day, but should fall below their
respective limits over the course of the week.
However, in regards to trans fat, food products and ingredients used daily must contain zero
grams of trans fat per serving.
Slide 32: Dietary Specifications
There are only a few nutrient and calorie requirements that must be met with the new meal
pattern.
There are minimum and maximum calorie levels each week.
It is intended that with the new required meal pattern and vegetable subgroups, the calorie
amounts will fall within the required minimum and maximum calorie range.
Slide 33: Dietary Specifications
The final rule requires schools to make a gradual reduction in the sodium content of meals.
USDA recognizes that it will be difficult to achieve substantial reductions in sodium
immediately. Therefore, schools are required to meet two intermediate sodium limits, as well
as a final limit.
Target 1 will be required beginning SY 2014-2015 for both breakfast and lunch. This reflects
sodium reductions that menu planners can achieve through menu changes and recipe
modifications.
Target 2 will be required beginning SY 2017-2018. This is based on sodium reductions that can
be feasibly achieved with product reformulations by food industry, using currently available
technology.
The Final Target will be required beginning SY 2022-2023. Meeting the Final Target will require
new technology and/or food products; therefore, there is a 10-year period to meet the new
requirement.
Slide 34: Dietary Specifications
The saturated fat and trans fat requirements remain the same.
There is no total fat requirement.
Slide 35: Offer vs. Serve
Offer vs. Serve continues to be a requirement at the secondary level and optional for lower
grade levels; the NSLP application must indicate the grade levels that participate.
Sponsors must offer: milk, fruit, vegetable, grain, and a meat/meat alternate.
Students may decline as many as two food components.
Beginning this school year (SY 2012-2013), students must select a fruit or vegetable as one of
the 3 required components to be counted as a reimbursable meal under Offer vs. Serve.
Slide 36: Offer vs. Serve
Sponsors must offer: Milk, fruit, vegetable, grain, and a meat/meat alternate.
Students may decline as many as two food components.
Students must be offered the full component serving (1 cup for grades 9-12), but it is not
necessary to prepare a full serving for every student.
Students must walk away from the point of service with at least ½ cup of either a fruit or
vegetable. The minimum creditable amount of an individual fruit or vegetable is 1/8 cup to
count toward the minimum ½ cup.
Slide 37: Lunch Example
Example: This menu was planned for grades 9-12.
The student is offered a deli sandwich, 1 cup of broccoli, an apple, and 1% milk.
The student takes the sandwich and the apple. ***Is the meal reimbursable?***
***Click mouse/pointer for checkmark to appear.***
Yes. It is reimbursable because it has 3 of the 5 required components.
Another student chooses the sandwich and milk. ***Is this meal reimbursable?***
***Click mouse/point for X to appear.***
No. It is not reimbursable because it does not have a ½ cup of fruit or vegetable (discuss the
vegetables on the sandwich).
Slide 38: Point of Service
After students have gone through the serving line, staff at the point of service must be trained
to accurately judge the quantities of items on a student’s tray and to identify the minimum ½
cup fruit or vegetable serving.
It is recommended that sponsors use spoodles/portioning spoons. Another option is to use
souffle cups, however, that can be costly.
It is now required that food items be identified at or near the beginning of the serving line as to
how they contribute to the unit-priced reimbursable meal.
Slide 39: Point of Service
To ensure that each student’s selections from the salad/garden bar meet the required portions
for an entrée or food/menu item, the POS must be stationed after the salad bar.
If a school is not able to position the salad bar in a location prior to the POS, the State Agency
may approve an alternative to the POS location. In such cases, there must be a system in place
to ensure that each reimbursable meal selected by the student includes a fruit or a vegetable,
and that the total of any fruit or vegetable item selected under OVS equals at least 1/2 cup.
With regard to meal identification, although the food components do not have to be in the
same location, they must be labeled, listed, or otherwise identified near or at the beginning of
the serving line so the students can easily choose all the components for a reimbursable meal.
Slide 40: Resources
Slide 41: Questions?