High school to see lunch line upgrade this fall

Date: 6/20/2012

June 20, 2012

By Debbie Gardner

debbieg@thereminder.com

AGAWAM — Snapple and Cheetos will be off the menu, but there will be new eye-appealing entrées incorporating more fresh fruits and vegetables when Agawam High School students return to classes next fall.

The School Committee learned about these and more menu changes, mandated under the federal Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010, during a School Department food service update at its June 12 meeting.

Joseph Lecuyer, director of Food Services for the Agawam School Department, said with the new legislation — which requires the use of more whole grains, fruits and vegetables, the elimination of trans fats and the reduction of the calories, sodium, sugar and fat content of school meals — coming into effect during the next two school years, he felt his menu planning needed a "fresh set of eyes."

He contacted Connecticut-based consultant Geoff Ramsey of School Food Marketing — a former chef with 25 years of food service experience — to help him incorporate the necessary changes into lunch menus for the district's schools.

"It's got to be system-wide," Lecuyer told Reminder Publications. "We're going to start with the high school to market [the healthier meals] and make them more appealing so students will want them."

Among the mandates are an increase in the number and types of vegetables served on a weekly basis, an emphasis on fresh and canned fruits with no added sugar, smaller servings of milk — only 8 ounce bottles of 1 percent and fat-free flavored milks will be sold — and the incorporation of 100 percent whole grain breads and pastas into meals.

At the high school and junior high school levels, snack items with a calorie count higher than 200, sodas, vitamin waters and items with artificial sweeteners will be eliminated from the a la cart sale lines.

Lecuyer said students would see healthier snack alternatives, such as baked chips and different flavored water products in the a la cart line this fall.

Ramsey told the committee that the revised menu for high school students would divide the cafeteria's lunch lines into four specific categories — one that would offer 100 percent whole wheat crust pizzas, served with a salad; another that would offer salads topped with meats or protein alternatives made fresh to order for students; a third that would feature a daily specialty "bar" such as tacos or baked potatoes; and a fourth that would offer made-to-order deli sandwiches and wraps.

The last two stations would include a fruit or vegetable selection with each entrée.

"Students are going to see food produced in front of them, just like any other fast service restaurant," Ramsey said.

Lecuyer said the cafeteria would also offer one traditional hot lunch line each day.

"We'll still have the turkey with gravy," he noted.

Lecuyer said in addition to revamping the choices, the cafeteria would undergo a slight redesign to make the serving areas more attractive, including the addition of more lighting and display areas for the pizzas and salad ingredients. He said there would also be restaurant-style signing promoting "meal deals" associated with the new offerings in an effort to get more students — especially those eligible for free and reduced price meals — to take advantage of the healthier choices.

"Approximately 25 percent of the students at the high school are not taking the [free and reduced price] meals when they are eligible," Ramsey noted.

He added that having these students take advantage of the meals would help the school system receive its full meal reimbursement payments from the federal government, which would offset the higher cost of using healthier ingredients for menu planning.

Incorporating the whole grains and additional fruits and vegetable items into the menu increases the raw cost of ingredients between 17 and 23 cents per meal, Ramsey said.

Lecuyer said in addition to the cosmetic changes to the cafeteria — which are budgeted to cost approximately $15,000 and will re-use most of the existing kitchen equipment — the food service staff would receive training in how to prepare, serve and present the new menu items in the most efficient and attractive way possible.

"This is the largest change in the national school lunch program to date," Ramsey said of the Healthy Hunger- Free Kids Act. "People working in school lunch programs will be asked to change the way they work in food service."