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Cafeteria Software, Food Service Software, Nutrition Softwares, Software for Cafeteria, Software for School Cafeteria

Revolutionizing School Cafeteria Management

EduTrak, a leading software company based in Bloomington, is transforming the way schools manage their cafeterias with its innovative cafeteria management software. This cutting-edge solution is designed to streamline operations, improve efficiency, and enhance the overall cafeteria experience for students and staff alike.

Key Features of EduTrak’s Cafeteria Management Software:

Menu Planning and Management: Create and manage diverse menus, track inventory, and generate reports to optimize food purchasing and reduce waste.

Cashless Payments: Offer convenient cashless payment options for students, including meal plans, prepaid accounts, and online ordering.

Point-of-Sale (POS) System: Efficiently process transactions, track sales, and generate detailed reports for financial analysis.

Dietary Needs Management: Easily accommodate students with dietary restrictions or allergies by providing customized meal options and generating accurate labels.

Nutrition Tracking: Monitor nutritional information for each meal, ensuring compliance with federal and state guidelines.

Real-time Reporting and Analytics: Gain valuable insights into cafeteria operations, identify trends, and make data-driven decisions.

Benefits of Using EduTrak’s Cafeteria Management Software:

Increased Efficiency: Streamline operations, reduce labor costs, and save time with automated processes.

Improved Financial Management: Gain better control over budgets, track revenue, and reduce food waste.Enhanced Student

Experience: Offer a wider variety of meal options, faster checkout times, and a more personalized dining experience.

Compliance with Regulations: Ensure adherence to federal and state regulations regarding nutrition and food safety.

Data-Driven Decision Making: Leverage real-time data to make informed decisions and optimize cafeteria operations.

EduTrak’s commitment to excellence and customer satisfaction has made it a trusted partner for schools across the country. By implementing their cafeteria management software, schools can create a more efficient, cost-effective, and enjoyable cafeteria experience for their students.

Food Service Software, School Lunch Software, Software for Cafeteria, Software for School Cafeteria

Wordware, Inc. Announced That the Company Has Entered Into an Exclusive Partnership With FEEZEE

Wordware, Inc.  announced that the company has entered into an exclusive partnership with FEEZEE for proving online payment options to its clients in global market.

Wordware’s robust, reliable, and feature-rich School Lunch Software Mayflower LCS1000. FEEZEE is an integrated software platform that manages online payment features in many ways, its single high-security platform for any kind of business. FEEZEE allows end-users to control, manage, monitor, pay safely, prevent unwanted access, maintain compliance, and provide a robust audit trail. Secure payment processing on any device from a leading credit card payment processor.

Wordware’s School Lunch Software Mayflower LCS1000  are designed to integrate seamlessly with current systems, ensuring that existing credentials, readers, and user databases can be retained. The Wordware DataBridge is designed integrate data across multiple software applications within a School District. Our Databridge allows software applications to send information back and forth. The DataBridge allows each of these programs or portals to send information back and forth. With the DataBridge, a school does not need to maintain multiple databases of the same student list, they can maintain one and sync the rest with databridge.

Currently the LCS mayflower works seamlessly with hundreds of Student Information Systems. Many of our customers use Synergy, Infinite Campus, Power School, JMC, Skyward and more. The DataBridge has worked with every SIS that we have encountered.

  • Eliminate the need to maintain multiple databases
  • Maintain one database and sync the rest
  • One to many and many to one
  • Facilitate information for multiple departments within the district

“Wordware is excited to announce our partnership with FEEZEE, our exclusive online payment partner for School Lunch Software Solutions all over country,” said Manager  “We truly appreciate FEEZEE’s  expertise and are eager to support their growing channel partner network.  FEEZEE’s solutions, local knowledge, and experience complement our physical access product offerings for the market.

Under this best-of-breeds partnership, Wordware’s School lunch software platform is integrated with online payment gateway. FeeZee helps manage personnel access, online account management, credit card payment  etc. Wordware and FEEZEE will target customers in all kind of schools. These high customers require custom School Lunch Software with  policies that suit their individual needs and hassle-free deployments with seamless integration between software, hardware, and policies. • Easy online application • No complicated software to set up • No software or annual license fees FEEZEE Provides: • Secure, online payment processing from any mobile or internet capable device • Flexible payment options for your customers • An intuitive, easy to use interface • Reporting to help you manage payments • Customer receipts

About Wordware

Wordware, Inc., founded in 1983 and headquartered in Mendota Heights, MN, provides software applications for cafeteria sector. Wordware’s  LCS mayflower system is expandable to concessions, school store and could be integrated with Student information system, which makes perfect advance solution for your school. Wordware Inc, is the market leader in online Lunch payment system, most of the schools saves time and money using our unique and techno advance Lunch payment application software.  Lunch system makes your school to monitor money administration easier and will reduce time spent on managing the school meal service. Wordware Inc, Lunch payment system is a simple and secure way for schools to connect, transact and manage all their school payments solutions.

Contact Us. Corporate Headquarters: Wordware, Inc. 2526 Northland Dr: Mendota Heights, MN 55120; Email: Sales Information: sales@wordwareinc.com www.wordwareinc.com  call us at (800) 955-2649

About FEEZEE

FEEZEE is an easy to use payment processing solution that allows you to process credit cards, debit cards and ACH transactions with a simple interface launched right from your web site. FEEZEE does all the heavy lifting of payment processing so you can focus on the things you need to do to make your business successful. Don’t get bogged down with setting up merchant accounts, creating reports and managing software, let FEEZEE handle it and start accepting online payments today.

Solutions available for education and businesses that need to process payments electronically.Why FEEZEE? It’s easy. Contact sales@fee-zee.com, or call us at 844-5-FEEZEE (844-533-3933) for more information visit www.fee-zee.com

Cafeteria Software, Food Service Software, Software for Cafeteria

Infinity Retail Café Renovation and Expansion at Aurora Medical Center Kenosha in Kenosha, Wis.

Written by Donna Boss, Contributing Editor

A small linear retail location barely met the needs of visitors and staff at Aurora Medical Center Kenosha for many years. But an ever-expanding outpatient population paired with the hospital’s expansion to 73 inpatient beds eventually rendered the existing space insufficient.

Aurora-Kenosha-Cafeteria-and-Servery-1The mobile cash register station can be moved to the end of the hot food station. This allows the entire retail area to remain open and staffed with one person during weekends and evenings when transactions are low. Photo courtesy of Zimmerman Architectural Studios, Milwaukee, Wis.“The café was outdated, selections were limited due to café design and equipment necessity, customer flow was congested and café seating was limited,” says Bruce Parker, system retail and catering manager, Aurora System food and nutrition services. “We wanted a café with a fresh new look and to expand the space to disperse retail customers more evenly. And we wanted to create a retail experience that would help drive higher revenues and increase customer satisfaction.”

Finding the space to expand and meet goals of what was named Infinity Café proved challenging for the project team. “The coffee shop had a linear shape with only one service line, and back access only to bakery and cold cases,” says Christine Guyott, FCSI, RD, principal at Robert Rippe & Associates, the project’s foodservice design consultant. “Therefore, the space didn’t allow staff to change to self-serve options in low-volume traffic periods. Additional space was critically needed to make this into a right-size retail café.”

However, the project could not add any additional space to the building, so the design team used a former seating space to enlarge the servery to 1,235 square feet. The café also includes a 1,500-square-foot seating area that can accommodate 88 people. A corridor divides the seating area in half, yet allows natural light to penetrate into both areas. A new café feature is a private dining room.

Five Stations and Versatile Equipment

Aurora-Kenosha-Cafeteria-and-Servery-2Creative planning, such as shaping the salad bar to fit in a limited amount of space, opens up space for multiple menu options. Photo courtesy of Zimmerman Architectural StudiosThe larger space allows for increased and better traffic flow, giving customers much more room to see menu options, which also increased substantially. For example, a grill station with a flattop features a new gourmet burger concept called Hungry Burgers as well as daily specials. The entrée station contains an exhibition action station featuring healthy entrées and salads made to order.

Another popular new feature, the display cooking station, necessitated adding an exhaust hood onto the existing building. “This was the biggest challenge so we added it toward the back where it could be the most easily accommodated,” Guyott says.

A new sub concept named First Edition Grinders adds to menu items available in a deli area that also features specials made to order. Naan Za, a new gourmet pizza concept, features naan pizza crust with a variety of toppings.

The hot food and deli stations back up to the kitchen. The positioning allows staff to easily replenish the stations’ food items via a pass-through hot/cold unit from the adjacent kitchen. Refrigeration sits beneath the grill, flattop and charbroiler providing staff with easy access to ingredients during production. Refrigerated prep tables at the hot station and sandwich station also contribute to staff easily moving cold food prep from the kitchen into this space during down times.

Aurora medical center dining-RoomCustomers can choose among 88 dining seats, including single countertop seats overlooking the exterior courtyard, 2-tops for more privacy, banquettes of 2 or 4 for flexibility, a large table for group settings and several 4-tops. Photo courtesy of Aurora Medical Center Kenosha; photography by Bruce ParkerStaff working at the hot food and deli stations use high speed ovens as an alternative to fryers, versatile hot and cold wells, pass-through hot/cold units, open-air merchandising units, shaped steam pan inserts and serving casserole pans.

“Space was still limited so there was a focus on the use of lineal countertop space for merchandising,” Guyott says. “We designed a uniquely shaped salad bar that customers access for salad on the front side and snacks on the back side.” Customers can select from 40 rotating and occasionally themed menu items at the salad bar, which contains color-coated aluminum inserts.

The café also features a dessert station and cold and hot beverages.

Another labor-saving solution puts the cash register station on wheels so staff can move it to the end of the hot food station. “This allows the entire retail area to remain open and staffed with one person during weekends and evenings when transactions are low,” Guyott says.

The renovation generated a 33 percent increase in retail revenue during the past year. “Traffic is up in part by the addition of a new cashless employee-debit system and the acceptance of credit card transactions in the café,” Parker says. With the realization that staffing resources will continue to be crucial to support the new café, he adds, “This renovation project demonstrates that with sound planning and great project partners, an investment like this is bound to pay dividends both in increased revenue and customer satisfaction and loyalty.”

Facts of Note

  • Size of Hospital: 73 beds
  • Daily retail meal transactions: 360 average; up to 450 peak
  • Average check: $4.14
  • Hours of operation: 6:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m., Monday through Friday; 7 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., Saturday and Sunday
  • Staffing: 2 until 10:30 a.m.; 3 from 10:30 a.m. until 11:30 a.m.; 4 for lunch from 11:30 a.m. until 2 p.m.; 3 until 2:30 p.m.; 2 until 3 p.m.; and 1 from 3 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.
  • Website: www.aurorahealthcare.org

Innovators

  • At Aurora Kenosha: Lisa Schairer, director of support services; Bruce Parker, corporate retail and catering manager, Aurora System food and nutrition service; Margaret Muske, site leader
  • Foodservice design: Robert Rippe & Associates, Minneapolis; Christine Guyott, FCSI, RD, principal; Joy Enge, RD, senior equipment specialist; and Amy Fick, senior project manager.
  • Architect: Zimmerman Architectural Studios, Milwaukee
  • Equipment dealer: Boelter Companies, Milwaukee
Cafeteria Software, Food Service Software, Nutrition Softwares, School Lunch Software, Software for Cafeteria, Software for School Cafeteria

Food and Nutrition

Working with educators, parents, business people, students, policy-makers and other concerned people throughout the United States

Food and Nutrition

The Minnesota charter statute does not specifically address food service. Charter schools have the same responsibilities in this area as school districts. While nothing in state law mandates that public schools must provide meals to students, in most cases it will be necessary.

This section includes information on:

  • Funding
  • Food Service Options
  • Resources

The Food and Nutrition Service at the Minnesota Department of Education administers the School Meal Programs. The programs include: the National School Lunch Program, School Breakfast Program, Special Milk Program, After School Snack Program, Food Distribution Program, Summer Food Service Program and the Minnesota Kindergarten Milk Program.

Participation in the food programs requires a substantial amount of paperwork, in terms of record keeping and regular reporting. Many of the software packages that schools use to report information include lunch programs, which can make the process much easier. MDE provides periodic training on the implementation of the School Meal Programs. Schools are strongly encouraged to attend one of these trainings well before school begins, so that a system can be set up to ensure prompt, full reimbursement. Once operating, schools should contact MDE if they have questions about operating the programs. Schools that do not implement the program properly might not receive the full amount of reimbursement to which they are entitled.

For more information about the School Meal Programs, please visit the Food and Nutrition Service website at fns.state.mn.us or the U.S. Department of Agriculture website at fns.usda.gov. The Food and Nutrition Service also provides periodic training on the School Meal Programs.

Funding 
Charter schools that choose to participate in the School Meal Programs may receive cash subsidies (reimbursements) for each meal served. For some programs, schools receive state subsidies and USDA commodities in addition to the federal awards. In order to participate in the programs, schools must serve meals that meet federal nutritional guidelines, keep accurate records of meals served and submit monthly reimbursement claim forms during the required timeframe.

Schools will be reimbursed at some level for all reimbursable meals served, although the amount is greater for meals served to students who qualify for free and reduced meals than for those who don’t. The amount of federal subsidy depends on each student’s eligibility category. Eligibility for free or reduced meals is based on the family’s income level. Children with family incomes at or below 130% of the poverty level are eligible for free meals, and those with incomes between 130% and 185% of the poverty level are eligible for reduced price meals.

Most charter schools will have a number of students eligible for free or reduced price meals. To determine whether a student qualifies, his or her family must complete an “Application for Educational Benefits” form. This is the same form used by schools to determine eligibility for certain state and federally funded programs aimed at high risk, low income students (e.g., Title I). Families must complete this form each year their child is enrolled at the school. It is important to have completed forms on file, especially for those schools with a substantial low-income population. You may lose significant financial benefits if these forms are not on file.

Any child may purchase meals served by schools participating in the School Meal Programs. Schools may not charge students eligible for reduced price meals more than $0.40 for lunch. In the 2003-2004 school year, state breakfast reimbursements were increased to allow schools to serve breakfast at no charge to reduced eligible students and at a low price to paid eligible students.

In general, schools charge and are reimbursed for after school snacks on the same basis as other meals, although special rules apply for schools that operate in an area where at least 50% of the students are eligible for free meals.

Beginning in the second year of operation, the school will qualify for USDA commodity foods from the Food Distribution Program. In addition to school year food programs, there is also a Summer Food Service Program.

Reimbursement Rates
Although these rates change annually, as a point of reference, the combined federal and state reimbursement rates for the 2003-2004 school year are:

Breakfast Lunch Snack
Free $1.20 $2.27 $0.60
Reduced $1.20 $1.87 $0.30
Paid $0.77 $0.29 $0.05

Food Service Options 
When providing food service, a charter school has three basic options:

  1. Prepare meals on site. This gives the school complete control over the program, in exchange for greater responsibility. Unless the school has access to an institutional kitchen, however, equipment needs are likely to pose a significant barrier. Schools that prepare their own meals must have equipment certified by the National Sanitation Foundation, which is quite expensive. Schools that choose to prepare their own meals will have additional health and safety requirements and should also expect more frequent health inspections.
  2. Ask the local school district to provide food service for the school. A district that agrees to provide food service may have a minimum number of meals that they are willing to serve, or a minimum number in order to serve hot, rather than cold, meals. You will also likely be tied to the district’s schedule. Some smaller districts, particularly in rural areas where each school has a small kitchen, may be unable to provide food services.
  3. Contract with a private caterer for school meals. A private caterer might be more flexible in terms of types of meals, special preparations, special meals for field trips, schedules, etc. Most charter schools that provide meals choose this option.

IMPORTANT: Regardless of the food service option the school chooses, the school is ultimately responsible for making sure that federal and state requirements are met. For example, the school must comply with requirements regarding food storage, handling and safety. The school will also be responsible for submitting the paperwork for meal subsidies and for billing students who don’t qualify for free meals. All employees and volunteers working with the School Meal Programs should have an understanding of the following:

  • Sanitation and food safety
  • Required meal components and serving sizes
  • Counting meals by eligibility category at the point of service

When exploring food service options, consider speaking with staff at nearby charter schools and visiting other schools to watch their meal service.

Other Considerations 
During the first year, it is very difficult to break even on food service, given equipment needs. Even if someone else is preparing the food, schools will need serving areas, coolers for storage and, often, warming ovens. Schools should budget for these expenses. Free or inexpensive equipment may be available to schools through the federal surplus property program. To learn more about this program, contact the State of Minnesota Surplus Services at
(651) 639-4024.

When providing meals, schools must comply with federal nutritional guidelines for schools. These include, for example, portion sizes for different age groups and sample meal patterns. These guidelines are available on the Food and Nutrition Service website.

In addition to nutritional requirements, schools must also comply with the state health department’s requirements for sanitation and food handling. Regardless of whether the school actually prepares its own food, the staff is required to ensure proper food storage and handling. For example, a school must have a way to keep food at temperature-warm or cold. The state or local health department will inspect your facility yearly. In addition, any school that serves food must have one certified food manager on staff. To become certified, this person must take a course and an exam and register with the Department of Health. The Department of Health charges approximately $150 for the certification process. For more information about the requirements for food handling, safety and inspections, contact the Environmental Health Services Section of the MN Department of Health at (651) 215-0870. If you plan to prepare meals on site, you should contact the Plan Review Specialists at the MN Department of Health at (651) 215-0862.

Resources
Minnesota Department of Education Food and Nutrition Service 
1500 Highway 36 West
Roseville, MN 55113
(651) 582-8526 or (800) 366-8922

USDA Food and Nutrition Service

American School Food Service Association

MN School Food Service Association

Minnesota Department of Health Division of Environmental Health

For easy to understand Food Safety Fact sheets, see: health.state.mn.us/divs/eh/food/fs/index.htm

For information regarding food service construction requirements and licensure, see:health.state.mn.us/divs/eh/food/license/summary.htm.
(651) 215-0870

As public schools, charters are eligible to obtain surplus federal property from the state for free or a nominal charge. Food service equipment may be available. To learn more about this program, contact:

State of Minnesota Surplus Services
5420 Highway 8
New Brighton, MN 55112
(651) 639-4024

 

Food Service Software, Nutrition Softwares, Software for Cafeteria

Here’s One Way to Improve School Lunches

Alice Park @aliceparkny

March 23, 2015
Yellow Dog Productions—Getty Images For many children, half their daily calories come from school lunch With so many children getting about half of their daily calories from school meals, it’s critical that school cafeterias provider healthier options. The latest research suggests one way to get kids to eat more fruits and vegetables

 

If everyone had a personal chef, we’d all eat better. And if every school had a chef overseeing its recipes and menus, then kids would eat better too, right?

That’s the idea behind the latest study published in JAMA Pediatrics. With 32 million children in the U.S. eating school lunches—some of those at schools where pizza is considered a vegetable—there’s a movement to bring healthy food to the school cafeteria. But could a chef really make a difference?

MORE: Here’s What School Lunches Around the World Look Like

The answer, as Juliana Cohen from the Harvard School of Public Health and her colleagues found out, is a resounding yes. The First Lady’s Chefs Move to Schools program and the Smarter Lunchrooms movement have pushed two new ways of bringing healthier fare to students: by hiring chefs to work in school cafeterias, and by something they called a “smart café” system: strategically placing healthy foods like fruits and vegetables more prominently in lunch lines.

To test each strategy, as well as the two methods together, Cohen went to 14 schools in low-income Massachusetts urban areas and watched what 2,638 students in 3rd grade through 8th grade put on their trays and ate during lunch for seven months. Some schools were randomly assigned for the first three months to work with a chef to develop and modify recipes, some simply focused on the placement of healthy food, and some did both. The scientists studied what was left on the students’ plates as a way to determine what and how much of their food the students were eating.

MORE: Michelle Obama Bites Back at Critics of Her Healthy School Lunch Standards

At the chef schools, the chances that the students selected fruit from the lunch line increased threefold compared to schools without a chef’s influence, and the odds that they actually tried some of the fruit increased by 17%. Researchers saw similar boosts with vegetables; students in the chef schools were nearly three times as likely to choose veggies, and 16% more likely to actually eat them.

When the researchers looked at the schools that used both the chefs and the smart café strategies, the results were more mixed. Interestingly, the combination did not significantly affect the chances that students would grab fruits, but it dramatically increased the odds that children would pick up vegetables, compared to schools without either intervention.

“We were quite surprised to see that when we looked at the combined smart café and chefs, there was no additional benefit beyond the impact of the chef,” says Cohen, a research associate in the department of nutrition. “Really it’s the impact of the chef that is driving the increase in consumption. We also saw that chef schools also increased selection as well, so there is a double benefit in these schools.”

What the results highlight is that smart architecture and strategic placing of healthier foods in more prominent positions isn’t enough to get kids to eat them. But having a chef prepare school lunch does the trick.

MORE: Lunch Brought From Home is Unhealthier Than Cafeteria Food

At the schools assigned to use a chef, the chefs tested new recipes and gave out samples for students to try, as well as encouraged them to try new things, presumably those containing more vegetables and fruits. “Knowing that the chef inspired the recipes can change the mentality around cafeteria food,” says Cohen. “And having the chefs there showed the kids that the school cared about them, and cared about what they were feeding them.”

MORE: Most Schools Still Don’t Meet Federal Nutrition Standards

Cohen doesn’t see hiring full time chefs as a realistic or practical option for most school districts, but does suggest having several districts pool their resources to share a chef for training and nutrition education. At the schools in the study, some saw cost savings because the chefs not only revamped menus but helped staff with inventory control and more efficient use of their supplies. “They will gain long-lasting skills,” she says, noting that once they are trained, cafeteria staff could come up with their own additions and modifications to menus over time.

There won’t be a single easy fix to improving school lunches, and each school may need to find its own solution, but if Cohen’s study proves one thing, it’s that when it comes to getting kids to eat something — anything — taste is key. Even if it’s nutritious, if it tastes good too, students will eat it.

Cafeteria Software, Food Service Software, School Lunch Software, Software for Cafeteria

District Schools Highly Satisfied With Lunch Cashier System Cafeteria Software’s performance and customer support – School Food Service Directors

The Wordware mission with Lunch Cashier system for School District ‘s  is to actively contribute to the health of children, district staff, lunch cafeteria staff, students and other eligible customers by preparing, marketing and food service cafeteria software application.. Nutritious meals will be offered at a free and reduced price for eligible students while maintaining a financially accountable program.

Wordware Lunch Cashier system assists with your staff and parents to the new lunchroom software and is always here to help with any questions that may come up encounter while the process or after implementation Schools quickly learned how helpful our team is from the beginning and they are pleased with the technical support being provided by wordware’s experienced and dedicated technical staff. Wordware Support Team set up the software for the schools and provide training to your school staff up to the level they needed to learn the ins and outs of our school cafeteria software. From the launch of the new software, School Food Service Directors, was happy  that Wordware Lunch Cashier system would be an excellent fit for the children in their school.

 

“The implementation team and trainers did a great job getting us set up and ready for the first day of school,” say many of our valuable customers. Furthermore, their Staff have not encountered any problems, but they called for general questions. Customer care representative attends the phones calls promptly and guide them with confidence in using the lunchroom management software than before. They all are extremely satisfied that with the of wordware customer support team.

 

“There are many reasons why using Wordware for our lunch software has made my job easier. The remote support and ticket system have been a life saver on many occasions. The Direct Certification is simplified and the Free and Reduced timeline has kept me on track. The upgrade to the LCS1000 Mayflower has everything I need on the family dashboard for quick and easy reference. There are letter templates that can be customized by you and the numerous reporting options available are a tremendous help in documenting the daily and monthly transaction activities.” – Jean Erd, School District of Menomonee Falls

 

The Lunch Cashier System by Wordware, Inc. is a complete, affordable, user-friendly meal accounting system for schools, including back-office and point-of-sale management software. Lunch Cashier System is one of the Top Food Service Management Software. They provide comprehensive solutions to both school administration and food service staff. Computerized Lunch Program for school cafeterias, State and Federal reporting. Parents only need to send lunch money to one family account for all family members participating in the lunch program.

Food Service Software, Nutrition Softwares, Software for School Cafeteria

Spotting Trends Based on ‘What We Eat in America’

Using a computerized dietary-intake survey program and serving-size aids, interviewers are able to help volunteers recall their dietary intakes. (USDA-ARS photo taken by Stephen Ausmus)

March is National Nutrition Month. Throughout the month, USDA will be highlighting results of our efforts to improve access to safe, healthy food for all Americans and supporting the health of our next generation.

The U.S. food supply is abundant, but many consumers are experiencing nutritional shortfalls. Some are overfed but undernourished at the same time. Observing trends in U.S. diets is possible based on food-consumption data collected during the annual “What We Eat in America/NHANES” dietary-intake survey.

The USDA Agricultural Research Service (ARS) is responsible for the consumption interview, one of several components of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) conducted by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The dietary survey is managed by researchers at the Food Surveys Research Group in Beltsville, Md., part of the ARS Beltsville Human Nutrition Research Center.

Each year, the “What We Eat in America” computer-based dietary interview is used to ask more than 5,000 individuals nationwide about the foods and beverages they consumed. The participants’ dietary supplement intakes also are collected.

Research nutritionists then translate “what’s eaten” into “nutrients consumed.” The survey data—after analysis—provide insights into the population’s nutrient-intake status, such as overconsumption, nutritional shortfalls, healthy snacking and poor eating.

Here are some of the dietetic trends based on “What We Eat in America” survey data collected in 2011-2012.

—On average, U.S. individuals are getting only about half their daily recommended intake for dietary fiber and potassium. And well over one-third aren’t getting their recommended calcium, magnesium, vitamin C and vitamin A from foods and beverages.

—More than 90 percent are not getting their recommended vitamin D from foods and beverages. Based on supplement use tracked, about one-fourth took a supplement containing vitamin D, and more than half of women aged 60 and older took one.

—Lunch is the meal most frequently skipped. On any survey day, one in five individuals did not eat lunch.

—On a given day, more than half of individuals ate at least one food or beverage that was obtained from a restaurant. The proportion is higher for young adults. Two-thirds of those aged 20 to 39 ate food or beverage obtained from a restaurant. When consumed, restaurant foods and beverages contributed more than 40 percent of daily calories.

—Overconsumption also is a problem. Based on the survey data, individuals consumed 3,500 milligrams of sodium on a given day, which is about one-third more than the recommended maximum for adults with no known risk factors.

Essential vitamins and minerals help the body stay healthy and function properly. “What We Eat in America” data results are informative to consumers and professionals. To keep up with what’s trending based on “What We Eat in America,” visit the USDA-ARS Food Survey Research Group Web site.

A man and woman looking at the Sodium Intakes of Americans chart

The dietary survey data show that U.S. adults consume on average about one-third more than the maximum daily sodium intake recommended, or more than 1.5 teaspoons of salt daily. (USDA-ARS photo taken by Peggy Greb)

Posted by Rosalie Marion Bliss, Public Affairs Specialist, Agricultural Research Service, on March 31, 2016 at 11:00 AM