Report: Schools meet nutrition standards, but need updated equipment
September 30, 2013 | 04:50 PM
The Pew Charitable Trusts and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation today released a report showing that 94 percent of schools will meet the updated nutrition standards, but that the schools cited a need for modern kitchen equipment.
Jessica Donze Black
“The vast majority of schools are showing that every day, serving healthy meals is absolutely feasible,” says Jessica Donze Black, director of the Kids’ Safe and Healthful Foods Project. “But schools could serve foods that meet the nutrition standards more efficiently and effectively if they have the right equipment instead of having to make do with short-term workarounds.”
Those with inadequate equipment report they are making do with less-efficient processes, such as manually chopping or slicing fruits and vegetables rather than using tools and equipment common in other food service operations, or having daily, and more costly, deliveries of fresh produce instead of being able to store it on-site, the report said.
Congress appropriated $10 million in fiscal year 2013 to USDA to distribute for school food service equipment, the report noted.
Separately, the bipartisan School Food Modernization Act of 2013 would establish a new loan and grant assistance program within USDA to help schools upgrade kitchens and dining areas, acquire new equipment, and authorize funding for training and technical assistance to school food service personnel throughout the country.
Pew's Kids Safe and Healthful Foods Project commissioned Mathematica Policy Research, a nonpartisan research firm, to assess the challenges related to kitchen equipment, training, and infrastructure.
Mathematica surveyed 3,372 school food service directors or their designees between August and December 2012.
“The vast majority of schools are showing that every day, serving healthy meals is absolutely feasible,” says Jessica Donze Black, director of the Kids’ Safe and Healthful Foods Project. “But schools could serve foods that meet the nutrition standards more efficiently and effectively if they have the right equipment instead of having to make do with short-term workarounds.”
Those with inadequate equipment report they are making do with less-efficient processes, such as manually chopping or slicing fruits and vegetables rather than using tools and equipment common in other food service operations, or having daily, and more costly, deliveries of fresh produce instead of being able to store it on-site, the report said.
Congress appropriated $10 million in fiscal year 2013 to USDA to distribute for school food service equipment, the report noted.
Separately, the bipartisan School Food Modernization Act of 2013 would establish a new loan and grant assistance program within USDA to help schools upgrade kitchens and dining areas, acquire new equipment, and authorize funding for training and technical assistance to school food service personnel throughout the country.
Pew's Kids Safe and Healthful Foods Project commissioned Mathematica Policy Research, a nonpartisan research firm, to assess the challenges related to kitchen equipment, training, and infrastructure.
Mathematica surveyed 3,372 school food service directors or their designees between August and December 2012.
