Media Mix: Hospital Food Goes Upscale; Girl Scouts Boycott Continues; And New School Lunch Rules

The Daily Byte brings you the biggest news from the food world.

N.Y. Hospitals Become Hospitable: Special sections of certain New York hospitals are treating their guests with fancy linen and gourmet food, like Ciao Bella gelato, mushroom risotto, and rack of lamb. [NY Times]

Government Announces New School Lunch Guidelines: Michelle Obama and Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack announced that starting as soon as the next school year, school lunches will have less sodium, more whole grains, and more fruits and vegetables. Guidelines will limit the amount of calories per meal, and milk will have to be low-fat. Flavored milk will be non-fat. [AP]

Family Research Council Joins Girl Scouts Boycott: After a teen girl called for a Girl Scout cookie boycott due to Girl Scouts' inclusion of transgender girls, the Family Research Council has now joined the discussion. [FRC]

McDonald's 2012 Menu Items Revealed: The fast-food chain plans to offer a Cherry Berry Chiller frozen beverage, Blueberry Banana Nut Oatmeal, and Chicken McBites (a popcorn chicken). They also plan to remodel more than 800 U.S. locations. [NRN]

Nobody Believes Packaging Claims: A new study finds that shoppers worldwide don't believe health claims on packaging, with only 12 percent believing "non-artificial" claims, 13 percent believing that products are "heart healthy," and 14 percent believing "all natural" labels. [NPR]

The Daily Byte is a regular column dedicated to covering interesting food news and trends across the country. Click here for previous columns.