In recent years, public school lunches have faced a variety of changes. During the Obama administration, First Lady Michelle Obama advocated for healthier lunches with fewer sugary drinks and more fruits. 

Since then, school lunch menus have remained relatively unchanged. Now, however, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services may be getting ready to implement new changes to school lunch menus, but questions are being raised about the health and cost effects that will result.

Since the confirmation of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as the head of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, both Kennedy and President Trump have strongly pushed for the implementation of the “Make America Healthy Again” (MAHA) public health strategy. 

While MAHA states its policy goals in an online section titled “Key Initiatives and Policies,” its agenda is not specified. Despite this, potential changes can be inferred from the individual statements from MAHA constituents. For example, in a post on X, formerly Twitter, Kennedy stated that Americans were being “unknowingly poisoned” by seed oils such as canola, sunflower, and peanut oil. Kennedy also stated in a separate X post that frying food in beef tallow would be a healthier option. As the head of the health department, Kennedy’s views on ingredient usage, such as seed oil regulation, have the potential to make their way into state health policy.

Public school systems, such as Kalamazoo Public Schools, are state-funded and may be required to change cafeteria food menus to conform to the department’s potential new standards.

“We use a butter-flavored soybean oil that gets brushed on top of some of the menu items,” Loy Norrix kitchen manager Wendy Hawkins said. “We use that instead of actual butter for two reasons: one, it’s cheaper, two, it’s better for you than butter. If we get new regulations to use something else, like beef tallow or butter, it will be more expensive and worse for the health of students.”

While many of the food items on the lunch menu are pre-packaged and air-fried without excess oil, these pre-packaged foods contain seed oils, such as soybean oil, despite being air-fried. This may cause pre-packaged food suppliers to change these ingredients in the event of regulation.

Despite the Health Department’s views on seed oils in the diet, the consensus of many health experts remains that saturated fats, such as beef tallow, are far worse for health, specifically heart health. According to the research information paper titled “Saturated Fat,” published by the American Heart Association, “replacing foods high in saturated fat with healthier options (unsaturated fats such as canola, soybean and olive oil) can lower risk of heart disease.”

Health science teacher Richard Labadie shares this consensus.

“The leading cause of death in America is heart disease, and the leading cause of heart disease is consumption of excess saturated fat,” Labadie said. “Anyone who suggests replacing unsaturated fats with saturated fats, going against all the current knowledge of science, should not have any decision in public health policy.”

Along with health concerns, replacing seed oils with saturated fat alternatives would have financial consequences as well. Currently, vegetable oil costs about $3.64 per kilogram, while beef tallow costs $6 per kilogram, nearly double the cost. 

“It will just make everything more expensive,” cafeteria staff member Elise Wirick said. “Even though lunch is state-funded, the state still needs to get the money to pay for it from somewhere, and that money will inevitably come from the lower and middle class.”

Since over 40% of KPS families qualify for the National School Lunch Program, the district qualifies for the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Community Eligibility Provision, in which all students qualify for free lunch. Paid for by taxpayer money, if the cost of food increases, so will the amount of taxpayer dollars that fund the CEP.

“Free lunch is one of the things that sets KPS apart,” senior Chris Brown said. “The reason we have it, though, is because so many people in the district can’t afford it. Making it more expensive would just make us have to pay more, so the government can afford to fund it.”

While policy changes are uncertain, current proposals from the head of HHS are causing concern among students, teachers and food workers in two areas: cost and health. Although changes aren’t finalized, these proposals give an insight into what the future of public school lunch may look like.