As Logan County and Russellville Independent students return to school this fall, they’ll find healthy new choices in their school cafeterias.

Both the Logan County and Russellville food service programs will be serving school meals that meet tough new federal nutrition standards, ensuring that meals are healthy, well-balanced and provide students all the nutrition they need to succeed at school.

School meals offer students milk, fruits and vegetables, proteins and grains, and they must meet strict limits for saturated fat and portion size. Starting this fall, school lunches will meet additional standards requiring: age-appropriate calorie limits, larger servings of vegetables and fruits (students must take at least one service of produce), a wider variety of vegetables, including dark green and red/orange vegetables and legumes, fat-free or 1 percent milk (flavored milk must be fat free), more whole grains and less sodium.

“We’re always working to offer students healthier and tastier choices,” said Jayme Stokes, Logan County School Food Service Director and Elaine Dixon, Russellville Independent Food Service Director. “In addition to meeting new nutrition standards, we’re also working to provide taste samplings of new products that meet the new federal guidelines, to offer more nutrition education teaching the students the benefits of healthy eating and staying active - habits that can become a part of their daily routines for their entire lives. Additionally, school meals are a great value and a huge convenience for busy families.”