III. Nutrition Guidelines:
Goal: To provide meals that meet or exceed federal and state standards
-National school meal program guidelines
-Competitive foods (vending), classroom/school celebrations, fundraisers, sports events
National School Meal Program Guidelines-
The food service department will promote healthy meals and meal alternatives as part of the educational learning environment. This will be accomplished by the following:
Hot Lunch/Breakfast Program-
The full meal program will follow the U.S. Government’s Nutrition Standards and the District Nutrition Standards.
District Nutrition Standards-FOOD-
The District will follow the Nutrition Standards in the National School Lunch and School Breakfast Program, which follow the guidelines of the Healthy Hunger Free Kids Act. This policy states that we have less than 10% saturated fats in all foods served. Lunch and Breakfast will follow the new calorie, sodium, bread, fruit, vegetable and milk requirement which begins in 2012. The sodium content of each meal will be reduced slightly for the next 10 years in order to meet federal guidelines.
The district will work to provide a nutritional analysis of meals within two years of the adoption of this policy. Once implemented, this information will be posted and included in the district publication of menus.
Nuts and seeds are exempt from these standards because they are nutrient dense foods that contain high levels of monounsaturated fats. Foods high in monounsaturated fat help lower “bad” cholesterol and maintain “good” HDL cholesterol.
By 2014-2015 the District will offer 100% whole-wheat whole grain rich foods.
The District will-
Offer non-fried vegetables and fruit options each day at lunch and fruit options each day at breakfast.
Limit or avoid any food item, served by the food service program or offered as a snack item, which contains more than one third of its weight from added sugar.
Eliminate vending sales of candy. Non-vending sales of candy will only be permitted at the conclusion of the instructional day.
District Nutrition Standards-BEVERAGES-
Vending or non-vending sales of soda or artificially sweetened drinks will not be permitted prior to the start and throughout the instructional day.
Only low-fat and fat-free milk will be sold on school grounds.
100% fruit juice drinks are recommended.
|