Student taste buds could be in for a shock next school year if proposed limits on the salt, fat and calorie content of school meals are adopted by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Parents could feel the impact in the pocketbook.

“Change is coming,” said Gail Kavanaugh, child nutrition director for the Vicksburg Warren School District. “How that change is implemented will be determined by the interpretations of the state and federal officials and by the public comment on the proposed rules.”

The complete proposal, which aligns school meals with the 2005 “Dietary Guidelines for Americans” based on recommendations from the National Academies’ Institute of Medicine, can be reviewed online at the “Nutrition Standards in the National School Lunch and School Breakfast Programs” link at www.regulations.gov.

Comments will be accepted through Wednesday, and can be made online, by mail or by hand delivery as outlined in the proposal.