Kraft Heinz stops serving Lunchables designed for schools due to low demand

Food and beverage manufacturer Kraft-Heinz said Tuesday it is no longer serving the Lunchables meals it created for U.S. schools.

The company introduced two packaged meals: one featuring pizza and the other featuring turkey and cheddar. cheese and plate of crackers — at the start of the 2023-2024 school year. At the time, Kraft Heinz said the offerings were fortified with protein and contained reduced levels of saturated fat and sodium to meet the requirements of the nation’s free and reduced price regulations. school lunch program.

Nutritionists and advocacy groups weren’t thrilled with the launch. The Center for Science in the Public Interest called having Lunchables in cafeterias a “highly questionable school food measure” that could lead families to think the versions sold in supermarkets were an option healthy.

The drumbeat picked up steam in April, when Consumer Reports said its tests showed school-approved Lunchables contained more sodium than store varieties. The organization also reported that commercially available Lunchables contained more lead than prepared meals made by several other companies.

Consumer Reports petitioned the US Department of Agriculture to ban Lunchables and similar processed meal kits in schools.

In a statement, Pittsburgh-based Kraft Heinz attributed the decision to withdraw from the market served by the National School Lunch Program to a lack of demand. The company called the business impact “negligible,” saying sales of school-designed meals “represented well less than 1 percent of overall Lunchables sales” during the last school year.

“Last year, we offered two NSLP-compliant Lunchables options to schools that had increased their protein. Although many school administrators were excited to have these options, the demand did not meet our goals,” the release said. “This happens occasionally across our extensive portfolio, particularly as we explore new sales channels. Lunchables products are not available in schools this year and we hope to return to them at a later date.

The Kraft Heinz Co. produces a wide range of familiar products, including Capri Sun juice pouches, Oscar Meyer hot dogs, Gray Poupon mustard, Kool-Aid and Philadelphia cream cheese.