Dive Brief:

• The USDA has revamped its school-meal guidelines -- making permanent an earlier change that lets school foodservice workers increase the portion sizes of meat and grains.
• The move comes after the agency received numerous complaints from parents and kids regarding portion-size limits imposed at the start of the 2012-13 school year. Those limits were aimed at helping to curtail childhood obesity.
• The change is welcome news to school nutritionists, who are now free to plan menus for next school year without fear the temporary change would be rolled back.

Dive Insight:

Looking for ways to reduce childhood obesity is a good idea. But the portion limits have been a disaster from the start. Kids and parents were furious -- and rightly so -- that the meals were not substantial enough to provide enough energy for active children. School districts were upset about their inability to plan meals while the rules were being reviewed.

The fact that the USDA has backed away from its bad idea is proof, once more, that the entire food chain is becoming responsive to the food e-vangelists.