There's Always Room for Improvement in Nutritional Values

By Chris Lindsey

The Poudre School District board members sat in a line, prepared for a proposed renovation of nutritional school lunches.

Food service is a major factor in the Poudre School District.  Virginia Clark with Coalition for Activity and Nutrition to Defeat Obesity (CanDo) put together a presentation for the board of education meeting.  CanDo’s mission statement as posted on the website candoonline.org is, “to improve the health of the community by increasing physical activity and healthy eating to reduce and prevent obesity.”

Colorado is ranked number 29 in leanest states for children.  Although obesity has several causes, the school system can play a large role in lowering these numbers by providing healthier options through the school lunch system.  Since a large number of students eat school lunches Clark believes it is essential schools be involved in providing beneficial nutrition to children.  According to Clark, even “moderate under-nutrition” can cause negative cognitive effects on children.  This is why we need nutrition services such as staff training, food safety, USDA requirements, and even food kids enjoy.  It’s about what’s best for the kids.

            The community has several opinions on the new cafeteria menu.  They believe food in cafeterias should be above minimal USDA requirements.  The community likes the idea of salad bars and purchasing healthier products.  CanDo distributed a survey to 3400 district parents about school food.  The consensus was the most important item in the lunches is healthy food, and the second most important is the quality of the food.  A poll of 85 percent from the survey said they would favor policies requiring healthier foods instead of junk foods in schools.

There are 33 percent of students who eat school lunch every day and 26 percent who eat two to three times a week.  This means the food must appeal to a large group of students.  The success of the healthy food currently lies in the salad bar, but not all students use the salad bar.  Therefore the schools need to place emphasis on the main entrée because the main entrée is almost always eaten.  Clark says the meals need more control over sodium, fat, and additives; and they need to be more fresh and creative and decrease sugar-sweetened beverages.

            Clark believes one possible solution to nutrition problems in schools could be a “comprehensive food service assessment.”  This could obtain an outside view of the schools’ foods.  The purpose is to make all existing operations clear and to create a blueprint of goals and the future of nutrition in schools.  The assessment will mainly focus on food trends, financial issues, menus, school differences and staff training; it can also provide recommendations for goals and budgeting and reports.  The Poudre School District needs plans for change and good communication in order to succeed.  An advisory board will need to establish these goals and find what they see now and what they want to see for the future.  Clark believes if parents and community are allowed to give input in the new changes that it will be easier to identify priorities.

            After Clark spoke Craig Schneider, Director of Child Nutrition, also had a presentation prepared which backed up most of Clark’s points.  Child Nutrition provides the Poudre School District with cafeteria food.  In his presentation he pointed out that his program meets or exceed the USDA nutrition criteria, My Plate guidelines, and food safety standards.  His focus area for school foods is scratch cooking, or making foods on site.  Some programs assemble the food offsite then send it to the schools to be warmed up.  Schneider said scratch cooking provides the students with fresher and better tasting food.  Currently the Poudre School District offers 40 percent scratch cooking items; the total number of processed foods has gone down 80 percent since 2009.  Starting in the year 2013 USDA requirements will require all lunches to have a fruit or vegetable.  Patrick Albright, board director, later asked how this would affect costs.  Schneider admitted costs could increase because of the conditions and scratch cooking.  With all of these planned goals for the future Schneider and Clark expressed hope for improving food in the Poudre School District.  Schneider said he is still “constantly looking to improve.”

Sources-

PSD Board of Education Director, Patrick Albright

Obesity Prevention Supervisor of CandDo, Virginia Clark

Director of Child Nutrition, Craig Schneider