Washington (SmartAboutHealth) - The USDA has come out and set new regulations for school cafeterias to follow in regards to the quality of ground beef required to be served to kids in school lunches.

The new regulations will greatly improve school lunches that kids consume, making the ground beef they eat far safer, as well as healthier for them.

These new regulations are set to go into effect on July 1st of this year, meaning that kids will not receive the benefits of these new regulations most likely until the start of the next school year.

These higher food safety standards will make sure that the type of ground beef purchased by the schools and served to kids is of the highest quality.

Many restaurants already adhere to these regulations, so this is mainly a way to get schools to catch up.

School cafeterias will be required to test the temperature of the beef every 15 minutes, and the suppliers they purchase the beef from will have to meet these increased regulations.

Many feel this is a step in the right direction to increase the safety of the food kids eat at schools.