What products qualify?

Click here for a complete list of qualifying products.

What are the Guidelines?

The Alliance School Beverage Guidelines cover beverages offered for sale to students outside of the reimbursable meal program such as products sold in school vending machines, a la carte lines, snack bars, fundraisers and school stores. The Guidelines are intended to be developmentally appropriate and balance children’s nutritional and hydration needs with appropriate caloric consumption. The American Beverage Association, Cadbury-Schweppes, the Coca-Cola Company and PepsiCo, Inc. have agreed to implement these Guidelines, which limit portion sizes and reduce the number of calories in beverages available to students during the school day.

	Elementary School	Middle School***	High School (At least 50% of non-milk beverages must be water and no- or low-calorie options)
Water	Any size	Any size	Any size
Fat-free or low fat regular and flavored milk with up to 150 calories / 8 ounces**	Up to 8 oz.	Up to 10 oz.	Up to 12 oz.
*100% juice with no added sweeteners and up to 120 calories / 8 ounces**	Up to 8 oz.	Up to 10 oz.	Up to 12 oz.
No- or low-calorie beverages with up to 10 calories / 8 ounces	NO	NO	Any size
Other drinks with no more than 66 calories / 8 ounces	NO	NO	Up to 12 oz.

Time of Day

All beverages sold to students on school grounds during the regular and extended school day. The extended school day includes before and after school activities like clubs, yearbook, band, student government, drama and childcare/latchkey programs. These Guidelines do not apply to school-related events (such as interscholastic sporting events, school plays, and band concerts) where parents and other adults constitute a significant portion of the audience or are selling beverages as boosters.

* 100% juice that contains at least 10% of the recommended daily value for three or more vitamins and minerals.

** Milk includes nutritionally equivalent milk alternatives per USDA. In recognition of the currently limited availability of flavored milk with less than 150 calories / 8 oz and the importance of milk’s natural nutrients in children’s diet’s, flavored milk with up to 180 calories / 8 oz will be allowed under these guidelines until August 31, 2008 so long as schools attempt to buy the lowest calorie flavored milk available to them. Because of unique CA state milk regulations, the calorie limit for fat-free and low fat flavored milk in CA schools is 180 calories / 8 oz with a transition period until August 31, 2008 that allows 210 calories / 8 oz.

*** As a practical matter, if middle school and high school students have shared access to common areas, then the school community has the option to adopt the high school guidelines.

Click here for a downloadable checklist that you can use to help you determine if your school meets the Guidelines.