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School Meals are Changing!
You may have heard that there will be new requirements for school meals. The new requirements are great news for our students! They will help us build on the work we are already doing to provide more fruits, vegetables, whole grains and healthier main dishes in our school cafeterias.

Some of the New Requirements Include:

• Increasing the amount of fruits and vegetables.
• Reducing the sodium in meals over the next 10 years.
• Setting calorie maximums for the first time.
• Increasing whole grains.
• Limiting the amount of meat/meat alternatives and grains.

Students will now be required to have ½ cup of fruit or vegetable on their tray for it to count as a full meal. We plan to offer a variety of fruits and vegetables daily to give students more options in the hopes that choosing fruits and vegetables will be easy.

Schools are now limited on how much meat/meat alternate and grains that can be offered. This means that some of the main dishes may not be as large as they have been in the past, or needed to be eliminated all together. We have already made progress toward meeting the new requirements.

 

 

What We Are Already Doing:

• Fresh fruit and vegetables are served every day.
• Sandwiches are served on whole grain bread.
• Dark green and orange vegetables are served on a weekly basis.
• Dried beans have been incorporated into some of the recipes.

We’ll face some challenges to meet the new requirements, but our school nutrition program will work hard to make these healthy changes for our students and make each meal something our students will enjoy!

 

How Can You Help?

The school nutrition program needs your support to succeed! You are a powerful role model for your children and this is a great opportunity to model healthy choices.

If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact the Food and Nutrition office.

 

 

Vyla Forsgren
Administrative Assistant