Shreveport School Lunches Get a Health Makeover: What’s Changing?

Changes are coming to school lunches in Shreveport and the entire state. But school nutrition folks have a year to get the healthier lunches to our students. Caddo Parish school leaders have taken a close look at the child nutrition budget for 2026 and have started asking questions about how this will impact children.

What Questions Do School Leaders Have About Nutrition?

Board member Katie McLain says:

I'm looking over the foods that are specified in this nutrition bid and I wanna make sure that staff is aware of the recent legislative changes that are actually going to ban many of the items that are included because they are harmful to developing children.

 

McLain says "there are carcinogenic ingredients in many of these foods that are causing neurological problems as well as other things like cancer, obesity diabetes the list goes on and on.”

She asked Caddo Parish School Nutrition Director Kaye Lynch what steps we are taking to put these changes in place.

What Steps Are Being Taken By School Nutrition Leaders?

Lynch says “we did take him to consideration the things that are changing. In this bid we have taken into consideration the sodium reductions as well as the 6 gram limits on sugar.”

READ MORE: Federal Government Is Putting Food Restrictions in Place

Board members also asked questions about the changes that are on the way with regard to artificial sweeteners and dyes. Lynch told the members she is working on making changes to comply fully with the law once it goes into effect for the 2026-2027 school year. But she says we are ahead of the game in putting limits in place for sugar and salt content.

McLain says “I just I wanna make sure that we give our children the best, healthiest and most nutritious foods. We are finding out some of these additives are doing harm to the kids and I wanna make sure that we serve them the best food we can provide."

Christine Tharpe honed in even closer. She asked questions about why we are spending $31,000 dollars on buttermilk. Lynch says we want to have the option to use buttermilk in some of the recipes being served in the schools. She says this is not buttermilk as an offering to the children in place of milk or chocolate milk.

READ MORE: SNAP restrictions are on the way in Louisiana

Can More Locally Grown Foods Be Served in Caddo Schools?

Board Member Don Little asked Lynch about finding a way to include more locally grown foods in our school lunchrooms. But there seems to be a logistical problem on that front. Lynch says the local farmers don’t have the manpower to deliver these fresh goods to 50 sites and the school system does not have a central place to store and distribute these foods.