Chanhassen, MN—The Life Time Foundation, in collaboration with the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) and several school nutrition professionals and groups, has released the latest updates to the Ingredient Guide for Better School Food Purchasing.
The guide is intended to be a resource for school food leaders and manufacturers who are committed to improving the overall quality, nutritional value, and safety of food provided to students. It highlights unwanted ingredients to eliminate, and those to watch out for as new food products are developed and others are modified.
According to the guide’s “Better School Food Purchasing” definition, a food product “should include only whole foods like whole grains, fruits, vegetables, meats or dairy that are minimally processed or in their purest form; simply food made from food. A food product should not include unnecessary ingredients.”
The guide’s “Unwanted List” includes ingredients that aren’t acceptable at any level in newly developed products, and should be eliminated over time from existing products.
This list includes various artificial colors, as well as artificial flavors and unspecified natural flavors, as well as several artificial preservatives, artificial sweeteners and other sugar-free sweeteners; the emulsifiers brominated vegetable oil (BVO), carboxymethylcellulose (CMC) and polysorbates; three flour treatment agents; and mycoprotein.
The guide’s “Watch List” includes ingredients that have the potential to be overused. The biggest concerns: too much added sodium and added sugars.
Also on the “Watch List”: sugary syrups, such as high fructose corn syrup; the artificial preservatives benzoates and benzoic acid, as well as sulfites; caffeine (especially added caffeine); colorings (naturally derived), including annatto and cochineal extract/carmine; hydrolyzed vegetable protein; natural flavors (specified); phosphorus acid and phosphates; processed meat; refined or white flour; sugars metabolized differently than traditional sugars (tagatose and allulose); and the thickening agent carrageenan.
The guide, an update of the 2014 version, is intended to be a living document, with updates to be released regularly based on new scientific research and learnings from school nutrition leaders and authoritative organizations.
For more information, or to download the guide, visit www.ltfoundation.org.
