A federal law aiming to make sure kids have enough to eat at school as well as have healthy food options is set to take effect July 1.
The Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act requires schools to focus on fruits and vegetables, while limiting breads, grains, meats and cheeses. Traditional lunch menus that children are used to seeing will be replaced with ones following more stringent guidelines for minimum and maximum amounts for various food groups.
“It’s going to be a change for everyone,” said Sue Karsnia, International Falls Public Schools food service director. “The requirements are a lot more stringent — that’s where the challenge is.”
A wider variety of fresh fruits and vegetables will be served to meet the requirements, she said. Specific definitions of what counts as a fruit and vegetable will become effective next month and will be new to students in the 2012-13 school year.
One quarter-cup of dried fruit, for example, counts as 1/2 cup of fruit, while 1 cup of leafy greens counts as 1/2 cup of vegetables, according to information from the Minnesota Department of Education.
For years, schools had limitations on how much of a food group they could serve, such as starch. Now, the amount and variety of foods served will have both minimums and limits, aiming to make sure kids have enough to eat, but not too much of certain foods.
“That’s where the challenge will be,” Karsnia said of creating new menus. “It’s like a big puzzle you have to figure out.”
The new law “will change the face of school lunches for next year,” Karsnia added.
Lisa Hartman, head cook for Northome School at the South Koochiching-Rainy River School District, said the new guidelines according to age groups and grades will be a challenge, especially at a school housing grades K-12 in one building.
“I think getting into the rhythm of certain portions and how some groups overlap will definitely be different,” Hartman said. “You want to make sure you’re doing the right thing for each age group.”
Karsnia said in creating the menus over the years, she was able to use theme ideas based on different times of the year. Now, she’s hoping to get a cycle menu in place that can be rotated every six weeks.
“You have to cover all these categories within a certain week, so once you get one that meets the requirements, we’ll change it up less than before,” Karsnia said.
Hartman said before the school year ended, she went over the guidelines and ideas for menus “quite deeply” and made tentative menus. She’s waiting until summer nears its end to look at the new menus with a fresh look.
Both the Falls and Northome schools had been moving toward healthier food options. At Falls High School, the frequency of offering pizza in the a la carte menu was reduced, along with the reduction of fried foods, principal Tim Everson told The Journal in October.
Northome was doing the same. The school received a grant to add a salad bar about three years ago after “several requests from students,” Hartman said. She’s not worried about the students disliking the healthier options, and said the school staff has already been encouraging kids to “eat properly.”
“We want to see the kids eat healthier; we want to see them have enough to eat,” she said. “Especially for ones with sports after school, maybe before they didn’t have enough to eat. But at the same time, they need to watch what they’re eating, to give them that stamina and energy that they need.”
Given the school attitude on eating, Hartman doesn’t see the new regulations as a drastic change.
“Right now, I think it’s going to be a slow transition,” she said, saying the first year will be a learning process.
Karsnia said she and her food staff will be examining and evaluating the way the new menus work once school starts and make changes accordingly.
Hartman added that information she received from the state includes with the guidelines that schools will have time to ask questions and get help following the new requirements.
“They’re going to give us time to get it all in place, so we’re not going into a major panic like ‘I’ve got to do this, and how do I do it,’” Hartman said. “This also gives the food manufacturers time to make changes to their ingredients so they can have a product that we can actually use — that fit into the criteria.”
Food suppliers
While Karsnia hopes to incorporate some less familiar fruits and vegetables into the menu, the challenge is getting it delivered to the Falls’ remote location, she said.
“Because of our location, it’s going to be more challenging,” she said. “We wanted to get local produce within the school, but in this part of the state, we’re limited in the types of produce grown locally.”
Karsnia added that produce grown in southern Minnesota can be used, but adds the cost of shipping. Another issue is aligning the types of produce with the seasons.
“It’ll be somewhat of a challenge getting fresh fruits and vegetables because the time of year not only dictates the variety, but the cost of it,” Karsnia explained.
The federal and state subsidies given to school districts for lunch food will not be increased — the cost of fresh fruits and vegetables will have to come out of the district’s budget, she said. An additional provision of the law will require all districts with an average lunch price below $2.51 to raise lunch meals by 10-cents each year until the mandated average is met. Last year was the first mandated year, and the district last July raised the price by 10-cents. The Falls meal price is currently $1.86.
Karsnia said she plans to present this information to the school board during this month’s meeting to discuss costs.
The increase helps support the free and reduced lunch programs, but it will not be enough to cover the additional cost of purchasing fresh produce, Karsnia said.
Karsnia and Hartman both said that getting the lunch plans set for good can’t happen until the school year starts and students and staff get a feel for the new lunch menus — and even then, tweaking things as they go won’t be out of the question.
Future requirements will be phased in. This coming school year, at least half the grains offered must be “whole grain rich.” All grains must fall into that category by July 2014.
Next year, for school year 2013-14, regulations on the amount of sodium in foods will take effect.
“Right now, I don’t think they (the state and federal education departments) are being too hard-nosed, as long as we’re following criteria to a certain extent,” Hartman said. “The vendors we have will do well — they’re up to date with all this and good at keeping things on hand.”
She added that she’s optimistic about the change.
“Some things are still several years down the road,” Hartman said. “I think the first year is going to be a good year.”
