A food policy analyst must decide whether to recommend that local school menus aim to meet a percent of children's nutrient needs by menu planning or by relying on MyPlate visual guidance. Which integrated approach best balances scientific adequacy and practicality for school food programs?

• A. Apply adult DRIs directly to children without adjustment, because uniform targets simplify procurement and compliance monitoring.
• B. Use only MyPlate visuals because scientific nutrient targets are impractical for school kitchens and will complicate meal preparation and purchasing.
• C. Use DRIs to set nutrient targets at the program level (e.g., % of RDA/EAR for certain nutrients per school day), adopt MyPlate patterns to guide menu composition and portion sizes for acceptability and implementation, and use Nutrition Facts panels to select foods that meet those numeric targets practically—this combines scientific specificity with operational usability.
• D. Rely solely on Nutrition Facts panels without considering DRIs or MyPlate because panels provide all necessary numeric detail for menu planning.

Answer: (C)