What’s for

Volume #10September 2013

Inside this Issue:

Why are Many School Food Service Programs Experiencing Drops in Participation. pg. 1-2

SNA’s 2013 Back to School Trends Report Finds More Students Will Have Access to Healthy School Breakfasts pg. 2-3

Childhood Obesity: Dietary Influences pg. 3-5

From the Chef: Breakfast Burrito with Salsa pg. 4

SNA Clarifies Statistics on Schools Dropping NSLP pg. 5

Hands Free School Fundraising pg. 6

Drops in school lunch program participation litter the everyday news. Most schools blame the new Healthy Hunger Free Kids Act guidelines for their recent participation problems. Many programs claim the students are not getting enough to eat, the price of preparing healthy meals is too high, or more and more food is being thrown away and waste is a major issue. While looking at the difference in programs that are succeeding compared to those who are not, I find that what these struggling program directors are really saying is, my portion sizes were not controlled properly and now that they must be controlled, our meals appear much smaller. These pro-gram directors never really considered what their plate cost was nor were their staff trained to recognize a reimbursable meal at the point of sale. So now that they have to be more precise they see they are losing money, or never considered what their student customers wanted to eat and just changed the menu to meet the guidelines, hoping the students would learn to understand they needed to eat healthy.

Schools that have maintained successful cafeteria programs have watched plate costs, reworked menus to include the products their student patrons want, and have trained their staff, students, and parents on the new meal patterns. It’s not magic, it’s called, “running your program like a business”. Those who do it succeed, those who do not, well… you get the idea. Successful programs employ these three principals; cost control, marketing/product development, and communication/training. The new guidelines make it more difficult but let’s face it, it is what it is. Let’s say cafeteria programs are a heavily government regulated business, but a business none the less and needs to be run like one.

POSSoftware

OnlinePayments

F & RFunding FoodcoBiometrics

solutions,Inc.

servicefood

Follow Us Online...

For feedback and article ideas or submissions please email:asmith@foodserve.com

Written by Milt Miller, President at Milton Miller Consulting

Why are Many School Food Service Programs Experiencing

Drops in Participation?

Continued on page 2

POSSoftware

OnlinePayments

F & RFunding FoodcoBiometrics

solutions,Inc.

servicefood

Schools expanding grab-and-go and breakfast in the classroom as school breakfast programs meet new nutrition standards this fall.

As students head back to school, more will have access to a healthy school breakfast thanks to an increase in innovative programs including Grab-and-Go, Breakfast in the Classroom and Second Chance Breakfast programs.

School Nutrition Association’s (SNA) 2013 Back to School Trends Report reveals that the significant nationwide growth in School Breakfast Program participation is being fueled pri-marily by large school districts utilizing alternative delivery models to reach students who wouldn’t otherwise have time to eat breakfast through traditional cafeteria service. Tight school bus timetables, late student arrivals and early class schedules can limit participation in traditional cafeteria break-fast programs.

This expansion of the School Breakfast Program occurs as schools are required to meet new nutrition standards for school breakfast. Starting this year, half of all grains served with school breakfast must be whole grain rich, and meals must meet new calorie ranges and limits on trans-fat. School cafeterias are also working toward 2014-15 school year re-quirements for larger portions of fruits/vegetables offered with each school breakfast.

According to USDA data, over the last year, breakfast ADP (Av-erage Daily Participation) has increased nationally from 12.81 million students to 13.15 million students, a 2.59% increase. SNA’s survey found that about one-quarter (25.2%) of school districts offering breakfast say they plan to add to or expand their breakfast service in the 2013-14 school year, even as school meal programs are tasked to meet new standards. Ex-pansion plans are more common among the largest districts (serving 25,000+ students), with 46.3% planning to expand breakfast service.

Of the school districts planning to expand their breakfast pro-grams:

69% will increase grab-and-go options which allow students to quickly pick up their meal in the cafeteria, at a hallway ki-osk, or as they enter the school building, and eat the meal in the classroom or on their way to class. 46.8% plan to expand breakfast in the classroom, which allows students to eat breakfast at their desks, usually during morning announcements. Breakfast may be delivered direct-

sNa’s 2013 Back to school trends report finds More Students Will Have Access to Healthy School Breakfasts

Especially over the past two years I have been asked by Business Administrators and Food Service Directors, why their programs are losing money. In most cases it has boiled down to the above mentioned reasons. Most school food service programs have labor costs that restrict them from making money, but if plate costs, portions, reimbursements, and menus are controlled, the loss can at least be acceptable and out of the FSD’s control. A good start on reviving a struggling program is to establish an attainable plate cost, a menu based on eating trends in your area within HHFKA guidelines, and educate staff, students, and parents on what makes a reimbursable lunch or breakfast. Control these and the rest will gradually fall into place.

Kudos to those of you who understand and practice this, for those who do not help is available if you ask. Do not be afraid to seek the advice of those who run successful programs to help turn yours around.

Continued from page 1

Continued from page 2

POSSoftware

OnlinePayments

F & RFunding FoodcoBiometrics

solutions,Inc.

servicefood

Unhealthy dietary influences are a great factor in the growth of childhood obesity. Portion sizes of food and soft drinks served at fast food restaurants are somewhat at fault for this epidemic. Portion sizes have greatly expanded; McDonald’s French fries were originally sold in two-ounce portions. To-day’s “super size” fries are nearly seven ounces. Eight ounces was the original size of a vending machine Coke; this has ex-panded to twenty ounces (Mrdjenovic, Gordana, “Nutritional and energetic consequences of sweetened drink consuming in 6 – to 13 – year-old children,” The Journal of Pediatrics, 2003, p. 605).

Soft drinks are the leading source of added sugar in chil-dren’s diets. A 20 ounce serving of soda contains 17 tea-spoons of sugar. As soft drink intake increases, milk intake subsequently decreases resulting in inadequate calcium and vitamin intake that may contribute to osteoporosis later in life. The caffeine in soft drinks can also interfere with sleep patterns, impacting school performance (Schwartz, Robert P., “Soft drinks taste good, but the calories count,” The Jour-nal of Pediatrics, 2003, p. 599).

Beverage companies blame the obesity epidemic in school children on the decline in physical activity. They are partly correct; however, it would take almost 40 minutes of moder-ate exercise to burn the calories from one 20 ounce soda (Schwartz, p. 599).

According to interviews I conducted with teachers, the major-ity of the milk sold in schools is either two percent or whole milk. The dietary guidelines for Americans recommend that school-age children have a diet low in total fat, saturated fat and cholesterol (cspinet.org). In a child’s diet, milk is often the largest source of saturated fat.

For the prevention of future osteoporosis, it is important that children consume plenty of calcium since 95 percent of maximum bone density is attained by age 18. Children need the fat in whole milk for neural development, but only until age two. One percent and fat free milk provide the calcium children need for strong bones, but without the saturated fat that can contribute to obesity and heart disease later in life (cspinet.org).

One glass of whole milk has as much saturated fat as five strips of bacon. Two percent milk is not much better, being equal to about three strips of bacon. This is very important to note, because children drink up to three servings of milk per day combined between school and home. Switching to one percent milk or fat free milk is one of the easiest ways for children to get the calcium and vitamins they need while reducing their saturated fat intake and heart disease risk. Children who drink one cup of one percent milk instead of the same amount of two percent milk during the school day would cut almost 19 pounds of fat from their diet during their 13 years of school (cspinet.org).

Public schools are required by the National School Lunch Program to prepare meals that contain one third of the Rec-ommended Dietary Allowance for protein and iron and no more than 30% of calories from fat. However, a USDA survey showed that a typical school meal still contains at least 35% of calories from fat (www.msnbc.com). Even worse, competi-tive foods and beverages are not part of the reimbursable Federal School Meals programs are not required to meet nutritional standards and are either sold as part of cafeteria food service (such as ice cream and pizza) or through other venues within schools such as vending machines and school stores.

Childhood Obesity: Dietary InfluencesBy: Gurion Blattman

ly to the classroom, or students may bring their grab-and-go meals to the classroom to eat.

23.8% will increase second chance breakfast, which al-lows students to receive breakfast after first period.

Research suggests that school breakfast participation im-proves the academic, health and economic futures of Amer-ica’s students. “School nutrition professionals want to en-sure students have the nutrition they need to succeed, so they are thinking outside of the box and working within their school communities to make sure every student has ac-cess to a healthy school breakfast,” said Leah Schmidt, SNS, School Nutrition Association President and Director of Food

and Nutrition Services for Hickman Mills C-1 School District (Missouri).

“By providing options ranging from school breakfast vending machines and kiosks located at the school doors to break-fast delivered and served in the classroom, school meal pro-grams are making it easy for students to choose the healthy options available with school breakfast,” said Schmidt.

The 2013 Back to School Trends Survey, the 13th in this sur-vey series, was distributed as an online form in June/July 2013. The survey netted 521 responses from school nutri-tion district directors.

Continued on page 5

J-02Meat/Meat Alternate-Vegetable-Grains/Breads

Breakfast Burrito with SalsaBreakfast

Ingredients Measure Measure

DirectionsWeight Weight

50 Servings 100 Servings

Frozen whole eggs, thawed ORFresh large eggs (see Special Tip)

5 lb 2 qt 1 ½ cups

OR45 each

10 lb 1 gal 2 ¾ cups

OR90 each

1. In a mixer, using the paddle attachment, blend eggs, corn, milk, green peppers, onions, tomatoes, prepared mustard, granulated garlic, hot pepper sauce, and salt.

Frozen whole-kernel corn 1 lb 2 ¾ cups 2 lb 1 qt 1 ½ cups

Lowfat 1% milk ¾ cup 1 ½ cups

*Fresh green peppers, diced ORFrozen green peppers

8 oz

OR14 oz

1 ½ cups 2 Tbsp

OR2 ½ cups

1 lb

OR1 lb 12 oz

3 ¼ cups

OR1 qt 1 cup

*Fresh onions, diced ORDehydrated onions

14 ozOR

2 ½ oz

2 ⅓ cupsOR

1 ¼ cups

1 lb 12 ozOR5 oz

1 qt ⅔ cupOR

2 ½ cups

*Fresh tomatoes, diced 2 oz ¼ cup 1 Tbsp 4 oz ½ cup 2 Tbsp

Prepared yellow mustard 2 oz ¼ cup 4 oz ½ cup

Granulated garlic 2 tsp 1 Tbsp 1 tsp

Hot pepper sauce 1 Tbsp 2 Tbsp

Salt 2 tsp 1 Tbsp 1 tsp

2. Pour 1 gal 2 cups of the above egg mixture into each steamtable pan (12" x 20" x 2 ½") which has been lightly coated with pan release spray. For 50 servings, use 2 pans. For 100 servings, use 4 pans. Cover with foil or metal lid. Bake: Conventional oven: 350° F for 60 minutes Convection oven: 325° F for 50 minutes Steamer: 30 minutes

CCP: Heat to 145° F or higher for 3 minutes.

Reduced fat Cheddar cheese, shredded

10 oz 2 ½ cups 1 lb 4 oz 1 qt 1 cup 3. Sprinkle 5 oz (1 ¼ cups) cheese on top of each pan. Cut each pan 5 x 5 (25 portions per pan).

Enriched flour tortillas, 8-inch (at least 1.5 oz each)

50 each 100 each 4. Place one portion in center of each tortilla. Fold from bottom first, sides second, and top third, like an envelope. Place 25 tortillas flap side down into each steamtable pan (12" x 20" x 2 ½"). For 50 servings, use 2 pans. For 100 servings, use 4 pans.

POSSoftware

OnlinePayments

F & RFunding FoodcoBiometrics

solutions,Inc.

servicefood

F R O M t h E C H E Fthis UsDa school recipe is from www.nfsmi.org

J-02Meat/Meat Alternate-Vegetable-Grains/Breads

Breakfast Burrito with SalsaBreakfast

Special Tip:1) For best results, cook egg filling in a steamer.2) For 50 servings, use 1 lb 6 ½ oz (1 qt 3 ½ cups) dried whole eggs and 1 qt 3 ½ cups water in place of eggs. For 100 servings, use 2 lb 12 oz (3 qt 3 cups) dried whole eggs and 3 qt 3 cups water in place of eggs.

Comments:*See Marketing Guide.

SERVING:

1 burrito provides 2 oz equivalent meat/meat alternate, ¼ cup of vegetable, and 1 ½ servings of grains/breads.

about 9 lb (filling)

about 18 lb (filling)

YIELD:

2 steamtable pans

4 steamtable pans

VOLUME:

100 Servings: 100 Servings:

50 Servings:50 Servings:

Tested 2004

Food as Purchased forMarketing Guide for Selected Items

50 Servings 100 Servings

Green peppers 10 oz 1 lb 4 oz

Mature onions 1 lb 2 lb

Tomatoes 3 oz 6 oz

Heat: Compartment steamer: for 2-3 minutes. Conventional oven: 300° F for 3 minutes covered with a clean damp cloth. Convection oven: 300° F for 3 minutes covered with a clean damp cloth.

Canned salsa 3 lb 5 oz 1 qt 2 ¼ cups(½ No. 10 can)

6 lb 10 oz 3 qt ½ cup(1 No. 10 can)

5. CCP: Hold for hot service at 135° F or higher. Serve each burrito with 2 Tbsp (1 oz) of salsa.

J-02Meat/Meat Alternate-Vegetable-Grains/Breads

Breakfast Burrito with SalsaBreakfast

Calories 258

Protein 12.22 g

Carbohydrate 31.32 g

Total Fat 9.06 g

Saturated Fat 2.91 g

Cholesterol 196 mg

Vitamin C 5.4 mg

Vitamin A 552 IU

Iron 2.95 mg

Calcium 143 mg

Sodium 564 mg

Dietary Fiber 2.3 g

Nutrients Per Serving

Text63:

Continued from page 3

POSSoftware

OnlinePayments

F & RFunding FoodcoBiometrics

solutions,Inc.

servicefood

Education about nutrition is a key component to the success of dietary changes and involving parents can only be ben-eficial to guarantee the success of the programs. Nutrition-al programs offer great potential for use within the public school system. There are several innovative programs that all have the possibility for successful implementation within schools.

The one percent or less school program was created by the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI). A school-based nutrition-education campaign kit is available for pur-chase to promote the drinking of one percent or fat free milk in school and at home. When a school signs up for the pro-gram, they receive a kit tailored to their school’s needs in-cluding signs to place in the cafeteria, directions for conduct-ing taste tests, class activity lessons and flyers for parents. This program is appealing on several levels. It is designed to involve children in promoting healthy choices for them-selves, their families and friends. It is also a very low cost to participating schools. The kit itself is only $65.00.

With the goal of finding out if children would choose healthy snacks over junk food, the United States Department of Agri-culture (USDA) awarded grants totaling $6 million to schools through a Fruit and Vegetable Pilot Program (FVPP) for the 2002-2003 school year. The grants were used to provide each child in 107 elementary and middle schools with free fresh fruits and vegetables. The intent of the FVPP is to determine the feasibility and the success of such a program. The pro-gram has proven so far to be overwhelmingly successful and it is looking hopeful that this project will continue beyond the pilot (Buzby, Jean C., Guthrie, Joanne F., Kantor, Linda S. “Evaluation of the USDA fruit and vegetable pilot program,” 2003, p. 1). The average cost of this program was $94 per stu-dent for the year (Buzby, p 12). Fresh fruits and vegetables were distributed to children through kiosks and free vending

machines and some were served in classrooms as snacks. Over 90% of the participating schools provided nutritional education in conjunction with the program either by incor-porating it in a lesson or as a health class. Some remarkable statistics emerged from the project. One school noted 25% fewer doughnuts sold at breakfast, one had a 50% decline in lunchtime dessert sales and a middle school noted candy sales dropped from an average of 850 pieces per week to 300 during the program (Buzby, p. 1).

There are simple changes schools can make to improve the healthy eating habits of their students. Breakfast at school is associated with increased math grades, fewer absences and improved classroom behavior (www.archpedi.ama-assn.org). According to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulations, a cereal must contain 51% whole grain by weight to claim that “diets rich in whole-grain foods…may help re-duce the risk of heart disease and certain cancers.” Fiber is a major component of whole grain, so ensuring there are at least two grams of fiber per serving also serves as a good indication of adequate whole grains in the cereal. As easy way for schools to change the breakfast selections into a healthy option for children is to add fresh fruit and whole grain breads and cereals that meet the above criteria (Bis-tran, Bruce, M.D., Ph.D., Willett, Walter C., M.D., “Are you eat-ing the right kind of breakfast cereal?” Harvard Health Letter, May 2003, p.2)

The fat content of school lunch programs needs to be low-ered to a level in compliance with the Federal school meals program. Replacing unhealthy competitive foods, such as the ice cream sold at lunch, with healthy choices and elimi-nating vending machines that are accessible to the elemen-tary school children would be a tremendous step in improv-ing children’s eating habits at school.

Several recent media reports on schools electing to drop out of the National School Lunch Program (NSLP) have cited data from School Nutrition Association’s (SNA) 2013 Back to School Trends Survey.

This survey was distributed online in June/July 2013 and netted 521 responses from SNA member school nutrition directors, who oversee multiple school cafeterias throughout their school district. The survey included the question, “Does your school nutrition program plan on dropping any schools in your district from NSLP for the 2013/14 school year.”

The vast majority of respondents (92.7%) reported that they do not plan, nor are considering, dropping any schools from NSLP, clearly indicating that there is no national trend of schools dropping out of NSLP.

Only 1% of respondents reported that they plan on having a school drop NSLP and only 3.3% reported that they are consider-ing having a school drop NSLP. The survey did not ask participants to quantify the number of schools in their district planning/considering dropping NSLP.

School Nutrition Association periodically surveys members, school nutrition professionals from all 50 states, regarding the lat-est trends in school cafeterias. The 2013 survey is the first SNA Back to School Trends Survey to include this question.

SNA CLARIFIES STATISTICS ON SCHOOLS DROPPING NSLP

POSSoftware

OnlinePayments

F & RFunding FoodcoBiometrics

solutions,Inc.

servicefood

If you’ve ever gone through the process of organizing, setting up and running a successful school fundraiser, you know that it is task intensive and time consuming. Finding an audience, establishing effective communication, marketing, purchasing inventory, handling orders, fulfilling purchases, collecting money and reporting are no small hurdles.

At MySchoolAccount we thought to ourselves, “How can we make fundraising easy and why not make it available 24/7”?

The answer: Hands-Free Fundraising

MySchoolAccount.com has partnered with eStoreMoster to bring you a no cost, all-inclusive solution. It’s really simple...

1. MySchoolAccount creates your webstore2. MySchoolAccount creates your items 3. MySchoolAccount promotes the store, event, club or item4. MySchoolAccount handles orders, reporting, collection, and fulfillment 5. Your school gets a monthly check!

Sound too good to be true? It’s not. Click here for more info.

Do your sports teams want to create shirts to raise funds? We can work with the coaches. Does your student store wish to expand its operations online to reach a larger market? We will talk to your store manager. Does your student council wish to help raise funds to complete projects? We will work with the council President and Treasurer. Is your Economics class starting a business for a project? We will work with the teacher and students. Your school can set up as many stores as necessary.

Let MySchoolAccount work for YOU!

Hands-Free Fundraisingthrough

NO COst • NO ACCOuNtINg • NO lAbOr

Visit http://promo.myschoolaccount.com/fundraising/ for more information. Or contact Marshall at mfoust@myschoolaccount.com to get started today.

SELL SCHOOL BRANDED APPAREL & ACCESSORIES WITH...

Your School District