Processors and ingredient suppliers need to collaborate in creating meals that are nutritious and desirable for this picky and often overweight demographic.

By Mark Anthony, Ph.D., Technical Editor

May 30, 2014

School lunch nutrition programs come in as many forms and approaches as there are school districts. But one constant is that budgets are always tight. However, processors who participate in the efforts to better feed our children can find satisfaction in not only doing the right thing but in creating products for a significantly large demographic. Case in point: The New York school system alone serves more than 1 million meals per day.

“Schools meals are expected to be universally acceptable to all students, so we have push back from both ends of the spectrum,” says Twyla Leigh, nutritionist for Collier County Public Schools in Naples, Fla. “They’re either ‘too healthy’ or not organic/vegan/scratch-cooking enough.”

Leigh admits school nutrition professionals realize that “one size does not fit all” and continue to seek out manufacturers of better tasting, healthy options, even as they are “challenged with labor issues, food safety concerns and balanced budgets.”

“School nutrition programs are expected to be self-supporting, paying for all food, labor, uniforms, equipment, water, electricity, gas, trash pick-up, payroll and human resource services.”

That according to Leigh and colleagues Terri Whitacre, director of school food and nutrition services for the Charlotte County Public School System in Punta Gorda, Fla., and Stacey Wykoski, foodservice director for the Jenison/Hudsonville School Food Service group in Jenison, Mich.

The three provide recommendations that manufacturers “should avoid MSG, high-fructose corn syrup, nitrates and items that are known to be issues in the food supply.” They also believe that GMOs are going to be a “big topic” moving forward. “Manufacturers also need to take the lead in better food labels: sugar listed on a label should refer to added sugars, not natural and added combined,” they note.

Food allergens also will become more challenging with the increase in children who have food intolerances or allergies, says Leigh. “Gluten and peanuts are big issues with school-age children. Being involved with national ingredient and food label access, even with scanners and a more usable way to obtain this information, to link it to the school menus would be a huge victory for manufacturers, school nutrition and the children.”

Waste not

There are huge challenges facing any program designed to feed wholesome, desirable meals five days per week to hundreds of kids at a time in three or more 30 minute blocs around the noon hour. The biggest, perhaps, is an endless schoolyard tug-of-war between the cost of production and the staggering cost of plate waste.

Back to School

At the beginning of 2012, the USDA kicked off its new meal requirements for school lunches to “raise standards for the first time in more than 15 years and improve the health and nutrition of nearly 32 million kids [who] participate in school meal programs every school day.”

Included were new guidelines for the Healthier U.S. School Challenge (HUSSC), a “voluntary national certification initiative for schools participating in the National School Lunch Program.” HUSSC criteria are updated “to reflect NSLP meal pattern requirements, while continuing to encourage schools to offer a variety of vegetables, fresh fruit and whole grain‐rich options.”

According to the USDA, the healthier meal requirements are a “key component of the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act” First Lady Michelle Obama has taken on following her Let’s Move! campaign.

The new USDA standards include:

Ensuring students are offered both fruits and vegetables every day of the week.
Substantially increasing offerings of whole grain-rich foods.
Offering only fat-free or low-fat milk varieties.
Limiting calories based on the age of children being served to ensure proper portion size.
Increasing the focus on reducing the amounts of saturated fat, trans fats and sodium.

School Food Service Excellence achievement requires:

School Food Service Manager is a certified food handler (local or national certification).
School has a Farm to School initiative: Local and/or regional products are incorporated into the school meal program. Messages about agriculture and nutrition are reinforced throughout the learning environment via activities such as: school gardens; signage, promotions or special events such as tastings that emphasize local products; field trips to local farms; and curriculum integration.
Smarter Lunchroom techniques are used to encourage fruit consumption. Fruit is displayed in two locations, one of which is near the cash register, on all lunch lines. Attractive displays, signage and staff encouragement are used to draw attention to the fruit and encourage children to select them.
Smarter Lunchroom techniques are used to encourage vegetable consumption. Students are given the opportunity to provide input into vegetable offerings and to identify creative/descriptive names for the offerings. Creative/descriptive names are displayed with vegetables on the lunch line as well as on a poster or menu board outside the school cafeteria.
When offered, dark green, red and orange vegetables and dry beans and peas are displayed first or most prominently among vegetable side dishes on the lunch line.
Smarter Lunchroom techniques are used to encourage consumption of dry beans and peas. Entrees that include dry beans or peas are displayed first or most prominently on the lunch line amongst other entrée items on at least two days. Dry bean and pea entrée items are given creative/descriptive names with student input.
Grab-and-go reimbursable meal options include dark green, red and orange vegetables, and/or dry beans and peas at least one day per week.

Details and downloadable versions of the complete requirements are available at www.usda.gov.

Lunch Cashier System (LCS)

Food Processors and Ingredient Suppliers Study School Lunch Programs for Innovative Ideas

Processors and ingredient suppliers need to collaborate in creating meals that are nutritious and desirable for this picky and often overweight demographic.

Waste not

Technology solutions for the cafeteria and beyond..