School Meals Building Blocks for Healthy Children (2010) / Chapter Skim
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10 Implementation, Evaluation, and Research
10 Implementation, Evaluation, and Research
Pages 179-208
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From page 179... ...
Ealuation refers to well-designed studies to examine the value of the Meal Requirements in meeting overall programmatic goals. Topics covered under implementation include key elements of achieving change, menu planning, school food service program operation, technical support for school food service operators, monitoring the quality of school meals, achieving long-term goals related to reducing sodium and increasing the whole grain content of meals, and the updating of the Nutrient Targets and Meal Requirements in response to future changes in Dietary Guidelines for Americans and the Dietary Reference Intakes (DRIs)
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From page 180... ...
Community-level strategies that can be used to promote change include engaging the school community, peer involvement, nutrition education, parental and community involvement, the training of food service workers and the involvement of the food industry. Brief summaries of these topics appear below.
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From page 181... ...
. Student advisory councils or other school-based student committees can work with the food service staff in the interval before new regulations need to be implemented, as well as during early implementation.
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From page 182... ...
Menu Planning Regardless of the approach to menu planning that is used, menu items must be compatible with student preferences to promote the consumption of the foods by the participants and also to promote optimum student participation. School food authorities (SFAs)
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From page 183... ...
The committee recognizes that menu planners will need assistance in achieving incremental changes in their menus, food specifications, and recipes. See the section "Technical Support and Monitoring to Benefit School Food Operations" for more discussion of this topic.
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From page 184... ...
It also may lead to the selection and consumption of more fruits and vegetables by the students. • A 2- or 3-week-cycle menu aids the standardization and optimization of food procurement, inventory turnover, and daily production quantities -- improving food service operations and helping control costs.
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From page 185... ...
Furthermore, they are not expected to be suitable for a particular school district without some adaptation to local food preferences, food availability, and the capabilities of the food service operation. Variety and Choice Operators are urged to offer students a choice of items within the food groups in the meal pattern, featuring foods known to appeal to their students.
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From page 186... ...
The person in charge of the program must have the education, knowledge, training, and experience to administer the entire food service operation. In particular, the complexities of a school food service program require strong skills in a wide variety of areas including nutrition, nutri
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From page 187... ...
and the National School Food Service Management Institute are among the entities that provide training and learning opportunities. Attention to succession planning as part of a long-term strategic plan helps ensure that school districts will continue to be led by highly skilled personnel in the future.
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From page 188... ...
Bonus purchases by USDA relate to the purchase of surplus supplies of perishable foods and thus vary greatly from year to year with regard to both the type of food 1 The term offers applies because neither states nor school food service operations are required to use any of the foods. The foods may be used in the School Breakfast Program as well.
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From page 189... ...
• Use cycle menus throughout the year to streamline menu planning and costing and to offer valid usage numbers to vendors and suppliers to obtain better pricing. • Plan for the incorporation of the wide variety of healthy USDA foods (see "Use of USDA Foods")
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From page 190... ...
Much effort is being placed on testing new products for acceptability by food service operators and students in the schools (C. McCullough, http:// www.iom.edu/Activities/Nutrition/SchoolMeals/2009-JAN-28.aspx)
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From page 191... ...
The listing includes "standardized recipes, menu cycles, and food product specification and preparation techniques" and information related to menu planning approaches.2 The new recommendations involve some major shifts in the approach to menu planning regardless of the approach currently being used 2 Thelaw lists nutrient standard menu planning, assisted nutrient standard menu planning, and food-based menu systems; and other approaches, as determined by the Secretary.
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From page 192... ...
One priority is collaboration with school food service directors to revise related menu planning guidance materials, including the Food Buying Guide for Child Nutrition Programs (USDA/ FNS, 2009c) to make its content compatible with the recommended Meal Requirements.
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From page 193... ...
By entering the components, the operator would be able to identify shortfalls or overages that need correction to meet the recommended standards for menu planning. Other important forms of technical support include guidance on the effective incorporation of USDA foods based on the new standards for menu planning; guidance on the use of production records to improve menu planning and monitor performance; and additional training and technical resources on topics such as food composition, applying nutrition and food behavior research to facilitate change, modifying standardized recipes, developing healthy cooking techniques, interpreting food labels, and developing food specifications for procuring healthier products.
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From page 194... ...
During the first stage, at least for the next several years, monitoring would be directed toward facilitating the transition to the new Meal Requirements. The emphasis would be on examining progress in meeting the standards, especially those related to fruits, vegetables, whole grain-rich foods, calories, saturated fat, and sodium; identifying training needs for school food service operators; and providing needed technical assistance to improve the school meals (see the previous section for the types of technical assistance likely to be needed)
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From page 195... ...
to ensure that the saturated fat and sodium content are consistent with targets established in a revised food buying guide. In addition, monitors could examine food production records to obtain information on the average number of fruit, vegetable, and whole grain servings being taken in reimbursable meals.
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From page 196... ...
and the conclusion that gradual stepwise reductions over time may be the most successful approach. Furthermore, it is unrealistic to expect that school food operators can immediately make substantial reductions in the sodium content of school meals given the amount of sodium in foods in school meals and in the market at this time.
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From page 197... ...
in school meals provide between 250 and 900 mg of sodium per serving. Therefore, keeping the sodium content of school meals (especially lunch)
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From page 198... ...
At the end of the 2-year interval, it would be appropriate to assess progress and effects of the actions on student participation rates, food cost, safety, and food service operations to determine a reasonable target for the next period.
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From page 199... ...
Setting more stringent specifications is not reasonable at this time because of current student preferences and experiences with whole grains, differences in product availability across the United States and its territories, cost, and limited information on product packaging regarding the whole grain content of food products. Although the recommended standards for menu planning that are related to whole grains fall somewhat short of recommendations in Dietary Guidelines, they are a great advance over current regulations, which have no requirements for whole grains.
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From page 200... ...
Regulatory action would be expected to take longer. Other steps that would help implement the long-range goal of meeting the Dietary Guidelines recommendation for whole grains include the following: • Incrementally increase the ratio of whole grain-rich foods to refined grain foods in the meal patterns of the Meal Requirements (e.g., from one-half to three-fourths of the grains offered)
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From page 201... ...
The revisions to the Meal Requirements may also have an impact on student acceptance and participation rates, school food service operations, and the cost of the program. All these outcomes should be carefully evaluated after implementation of the revisions.
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From page 202... ...
b. USDA should take the lead in providing funding to conduct well-designed short-term studies in varied school settings to better un derstand how the new Meal Requirements change children's total and school meal dietary intakes, student participation, food service opera tions, and cost.
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From page 203... ...
A pre-post study design would be desirable, in which data on children's intakes (both at school and throughout the day) , meal participation rates, school food service operations, and school meal costs are collected at two time points: (1)
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From page 204... ...
Challenges to School Food Service Operations 1. How do the recommended Meal Requirements affect food service operations; how can any problems be addressed?
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From page 205... ...
b. Impacts of various approaches to reducing the sodium content of school meals and student acceptance of reduced-sodium foods.
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From page 206... ...
SUMMARY Successful implementation of the recommended Nutrient Targets and Meal Requirements will require attention to key elements of achieving change, menu planning, school food service program operation, technical support for school food service operators, monitoring of the quality of
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From page 207... ...
0 IMPLEMENTATION, EVALUATION, AND RESEARCH school meals, and achieving long-term goals related to reducing sodium and increasing the whole grain content of school meals. Acting on recommendations for evaluation and research will provide information needed for further improvements to standards for school meals and methods for planning intakes by groups.
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