Our changing
environment
McDonald’s has added
apple juice, apple wedges with low fat caramel dip, and 1% milk to their fast
food menus. Subway promotes their 7
subs with less than 6 grams of fat.
Wendy’s now offers Combos with a choice of
sides, including a fresh side salad,
Caesar side salad, small chili, or a baked potato, instead of French
fries. At Burger King, you can order a
small salad for a side instead of French fries. Schools
across the country are taking pop machines out and putting milk machines in. These are all indications of a changing environment.
Everyday,
headlines in newspapers across the nation include the latest studies in obesity,
strategies to help lose weight, foods to include in our diets, and the health
consequences of poor nutrition. Often
these articles reference school lunches as either a problem or a solution to
this national epidemic.
Background
The National School
Lunch Program feeds more than 27 million children each day. During
the 2003-2004 school year, a total of 58,117,650 lunches were served in Iowa
public schools. These statistics help
demonstrate that schools across the nation can make a significant impact on the
health of children by offering nutritious meals in a healthy school
environment.
USDA issued the
final School Meals Initiative for Healthy Children (SMI) regulations in
1995. Since school year 1996-1997, our
state agency has been analyzing the nutrients in school meals as part of this
review process. Eight years later,
there is still a lot of confusion and uncertainty regarding these regulations
as we revisit schools in Iowa to conduct a second nutrient analysis of school
menus.
Continued
on Page 2
Inside this issue:
SMI and Reauthorization
Preparing for a SMI Review
Do You Provide Safe
School Meals?
National School Breakfast Week: Great Performances
Reminder: Verification Summary Due February 15
New School Meal Initiatives Trainings Planned
2005 School Foodservice Summer Short Courses Scheduled
Everyone Wins With
Summer Food
Summer is Coming!
Tidbits from Julia
Commodity News
Check Out the Library!
Continued from Page 1
Healthy School
Meals
Successful
implementation of healthy school meals requires support from administrators,
teachers, parents, school board members and students. In addition, a primary goal of the School Meals Initiative for
Healthy Children is to ensure that schools receive the necessary technical
assistance and resources to help schools meet nutrition standards. To assist in that effort, our state agency
is planning a workshop this spring to help you understand and prepare for the
SMI review.
Plan now to attend
a workshop in your area
In an effort to
make attendance at this workshop easier for you, the 2-hour workshop will be
offered in several locations throughout Iowa beginning in April 2005.
Topics will
primarily focus on the SMI review, but will also include information about the
reauthorization changes.
The workshop will
include time for schools to talk about their own Corrective Action plans and
share strategies as well as success stories.
Sign up now to
attend this session. Details on workshop locations and how to register can be
found on page 4 of this newsletter. Registration may be limited in some
locations and additional workshops will be scheduled if needed.
So the phone rings, and your consultant is coming to do an SMI review. What does a SMI review mean? In Iowa, a SMI review is conducted every 4 years. The goals of an SMI review are to 1.) Ensure Program meals meet the nutrition standards; and 2.) Ensure that SFA’s receive the technical assistance and resources needed to meet the nutrition standards. Between you and your consultant, you will determine what school will be reviewed, what week will be selected for the review, when the onsite visit will be conducted and what information you will need to provide.
INFORMATION YOU MUST PROVIDE FOR THE SMI
REVIEW
1. Menus for the entire week that is
selected.
2. Standardized recipes for all menu
items served during the review week. Remember that you need a standardized
recipe for any food items containing more than one ingredient.
3. Food production records for the school
selected for the review week. All foods served must be on the production
sheets.
4. Nutrition Fact Labels or nutrients
analysis data forms submitted by manufacturers for each commercially prepared
food used during the review week.
5. Child Nutrition (CN) Labels and/or Product
Formulation Statements to identify the component contribution of a product
toward the meal pattern-for schools on a food-based menu planning approach.
6. If an Approved Nutrient Standard Menu
Plan or Nutrient Standard Menu Plan, a current nutrient analysis of menus
and copies of all current recipes (including analysis) for the review.
7. Lunch form for SMI Records can be found on the
Bureau’s website at http://www.state.ia.us/educate/ecese/fn/school_lunch/res_food_service.html Cont’d on Page 3
Continued from Page 2
3 Keys To Success
1. Standardized recipes ensure consistent
results for nutritional analysis and product quality and yield.
a. Recipes should indicate all ingredients
used and the quantities of ingredients used in a recipe.
b. Recipes should indicate the yield and the
portion size, i.e. 300 6-ounce portions or a pan is cut into 60 portions.
2. Food production records document what was
prepared and how much was prepared. All
food production records must include the following:
a. Planned number of meals by age or grade
group, number of adult and other meals.
b. All planned menu items, including all
choices, type of milk, desserts, condiments and substitutions.
c. Everything served as part of a
reimbursable meal including gravy, margarine, and salad dressings.
d. Servings or portion sizes of everything
including condiments.
e. Portion sizes if different age/grade
groups are being served in the same building.
f.
Planned
number of portions of each food items to be served; include planned a la carte
sales in the planned portions if they are part of a reimbursable meal as well.
g. Total amount of food actually prepared
for each food item.
h. Amount of leftovers of each food items.
i.
Actual number
of reimbursable meals served by grade group.
j.
Actual
number of non-reimbursable meals served and number of a la carte items served
that were part of a reimbursable meal, i.e. chicken nuggets.
3. Nutrition Fact Labels and CN Labels
should be filed in a notebook or file either alphabetically or by category of
food so that they can be found easily when you need them.
During the on-site review, your consultant will check to see if the recorded information you have provided and the daily practices observed are consistent.
For example, you have a salad bar each day but it is not listed on the menu and or the production sheets, you offer ketchup, mustard and pickles when you serve hamburgers, but they are not on the production sheets, or you serve bread sandwiches each day and they are not on the production sheet.
Based on the results of the nutrient analysis, on-site evaluation, and comparison to the last SMI review of the SFA, recommendations for corrective action will be developed to bring the menus and daily practices into compliance with nutrition standards.
Staying prepared
for a review is key to being successful.
When products change, you need a new nutrition label. When recipes change, you need to
re-standardize. The School Meals
Initiative means developing and maintaining practices that helps you provide
healthy meals to students each day.
Everyone on the School Meals team in your school has to be committed to
maintaining practices that lead to success.
Resources
Bureau of
Nutrition Programs and School Transportation Web Site
http://www.state.ia.us/educate/ecese/fn/school_lunch/res_food_service.html
USDA’s Menu
Planner for Healthy School Meals
Measuring Success
with Standardized Recipes and
USDA’s The Road
to SMI Success (coming soon) in a direct mailing from USDA.
The USDA prohibits
discrimination in its programs and activities on the basis of race, color,
national origin, gender, age or disability. Persons with disabilities who
require alternate means for communication of program information (Braille,
large print, audiotape, etc.) should contact the USDA’s TARGET Center at (202)
720-2600 (voice and TDD).
To file a complaint of
discrimination, write USDA, Director, Office of Civil Rights, Room 326-W,
Whitten Building, 14th and Independence Avenue, SW, Washington, D.C.
20250-9410 or call (202) 720-5964 (voice and TDD).
USDA is an
equal opportunity provider and employer.
Do
You Provide Safe School Meals?
Nearly one in
three Americans contracts a disease from food each year, according to the
Centers for Disease Control.
Many
people do not think about food safety until a food-related illness affects them
or a family member. While the food supply in the United States is one of the
safest in the world, the Center for Disease Control estimates that 76 million
people get sick, more than 300,000 are hospitalized, and 5,000 Americans die
each year from foodborne illness. Preventing food-borne illness and death remains
a major public health challenge.
What can contribute to a foodborne illness in your school?
·
Diseases, pathogens and toxins. Many microbes can spread in more than one way. For example, Escherichia
coli O157:H7 infections can spread through contaminated food,
contaminated drinking water, contaminated swimming water, and from toddler to
toddler at a day care center. Proper hand washing and keeping a check on food
temperatures are two important ways to pre-vent these types of foodborne
illness in your school.
·
Environmental hazards.
These are generally non-infectious agents, which have found their way
into the food. Poisonous chemicals, or other harmful substances can cause
foodborne diseases if they are present in food. Be especially vigilant in
keeping non-food substances such as dish-washing chemicals, hand cream and
non-edible powders away from food preparation areas.
·
High-risk groups.
The populations most susceptible to foodborne disease are children,
seniors and people whose immune systems are compromised.
·
Foods associated with foodborne illness. Raw foods of animal origin are the most
likely to be contaminated. Foods such as these most frequently used in schools
include raw meat and poultry, and raw eggs.
The
spectrum of foodborne diseases is constantly changing. A century ago, typhoid fever,
tuberculosis
and cholera
were common foodborne diseases.
Improvements
in food safety, such as pasteurization of milk, safe canning, and
disinfection of water supplies have conquered those diseases. Today other
foodborne infections have taken their place, including some that have only
recently been discovered. In the last 15 years, several important diseases of
unknown cause have turned out to be complications of foodborne
infections.
We
live in a microbial world, and there are many opportunities for food to become
contaminated as it is produced and prepared. A few simple precautions can
reduce the risk of foodborne diseases:
COOK: Properly cooking food to a safe
temperature destroys the harmful bacteria that cause foodborne illnesses. Using a thermometer to measure the internal
temperature of food is a good way to be sure that it is cooked sufficiently to
kill bacteria or chilled sufficiently to stop continued growth of
microorganisms. Leftovers should be
reheated to 165 degrees F, and reheated sauces, soups, and gravies should be
brought to a rolling boil. It's essential to use a clean food thermometer to
ensure that meat, poultry, casseroles, and other foods are properly cooked all the way through.
Continued
on Page 5
Continued from Page 4
SEPARATE: Don't cross-contaminate one food with
another. Avoid cross-contaminating foods by washing hands, utensils, and
cutting boards after they have been in contact with raw meat or poultry and
before they touch another food. Put cooked meat in a clean container,
rather than back in one that held the raw meat.
CLEAN: Wash produce. Rinse fresh fruits
and vegetables in running tap water to remove visible dirt and grime.
Remove and discard the outermost leaves of a head of lettuce or cabbage.
Because bacteria can grow well on the cut surface of fruit or vegetable, be
careful not to contaminate these foods while slicing them up on the cutting
board, and avoid leaving cut produce at room temperature for many hours. Don’t
be a source of foodborne illness yourself. Wash your hands with soap and
water before preparing food. Avoid preparing food for others if you
yourself have a diarrhea illness.
CHILL: Refrigerate leftovers promptly.
Bacteria can grow quickly at room temperature, so refrigerate leftover foods if
they are not going to be eaten within 4 hours. Large volumes of food will
cool more quickly if they are divided into several shallow containers for refrigeration.
REPORT: Report
suspected foodborne illnesses to your local health department. The
local public health department is an important part of the food safety system.
Often calls from concerned citizens are how outbreaks are first detected.
If a public health official contacts you to find out more about an illness you
had, your cooperation is important. In public health investigations, it
can be as important to talk to healthy people as to ill people. Your
cooperation may be needed even if you are not ill.
Additional measures some schools use:
Some
schools freeze a sample meal from each day and keep it for a designated time
period. This provides information for investigators if a foodborne illness is
identified in the community. The food served by the school is available for
testing to assist in identifying if it was or was not the source of
contamination.
There are many good resources available
for information on this topic and the following website is filled with helpful
information and links to sources that are especially helpful for schools:
The
National Coalition for Food Safe Schools http://www.foodsafeschools.org
Look
for Just for Kids that offer links to material that can be used with the
children in your school.
National School
Breakfast Week:
Great Performances
National School Breakfast Week is March
7-11, 2005 and the theme this year is “Great Performances.” Suggested
activities or decorations can promote the “arts.” Students may write their own
“star” biographies to post on a bulletin board and have “glamour shots” of them
with a Polaroid camera on shiny stars in the cafeteria. Other props such as a
feather boa or sunglasses can add to the fun. You can also place picture frames
around food samples on the serving line and have a trivia contest about movies
or book authors. You could even get students moving with some dancing after
breakfast or a game of Twister. Get the music department and physical
educational department involved with musical performances and a dance contest.
Menus and other ideas are in the April 2004 issue of School Foodservice and
Nutrition.
REMINDER
Verification
Summary Report Due by February 15
SFAs must have
the Verification Summary Report submitted via the web system by February 15,
2005. January claims and all future
claims will be held for the SFAs not submitting verification by February 15,
2005. Contact Patti Harding at patti.harding@iowa.gov or 515-281-4754 for assistance.
New School Meal Initiatives Trainings Planned
School
Meal Initiatives (SMI) regulations establish a framework to evaluate school
meals using nutrition standards, and require schools to plan meals using one of
five menu planning options and within other guidelines. Local area trainings
will be offered this spring to food service managers, directors and other
school personnel on planning and implementing nutrition policies that are
presented in the new USDA assistance materials, SMI Road to Success: A Guide
for Local School Foodservice Directors and Nutrient Analysis Protocols. These
USDA materials will be sent to each participating school, to help foodservice
staff in planning meals that meet the nutrition guide-lines, in offering
healthier school meals, promoting nutrition education and creating school
nutrition environments that support healthy lifestyle behaviors. These local
area trainings will be held on the following dates at the locations listed.
Each training will last about two hours unless otherwise specified.
|
Date |
Location |
|
March
16 |
Burlington
AEA 16, 2:00 PM |
|
March
17 |
Bettendorf
High School, 2:30 PM |
|
March
23 |
Mason
City--John Adams Middle School, 3:45-6:00 PM |
|
April
5 |
Carroll—Adams
Elem., 1:30-4:30 PM |
|
April
5 |
NEICC,
Peosta, 2:30 PM |
|
April
6 |
LeMars
High School, 3:30 PM |
|
April
7 |
Spencer
CSD, Admin. Bldg, 3:30 PM |
|
April
7 |
Williamsburg
High School, 2:00 PM |
|
April
7 |
Lamoni
Elem. School, 1:00-4:00 PM |
|
April
18 |
College
CSD, Cedar Rapids, 2:00 PM |
|
April
19 |
Pella—Jefferson
Elem., 2:00 PM |
|
April
19 |
Peet
Jr High, Cedar Falls, 2:30 PM |
|
April
20 |
Red
Oak CSD, Webster Bldg, 2:30 PM |
|
April
26 |
Urbandale
Library, 2:00 PM |
Check
the Bureau’s website http://www.state.ia.us/educate/ecese/fn/
regarding dates, locations and time of SMI trainings and registration
information. If you have any questions, call Janelle Loney, Bureau Secretary,
515-281-5356.
There
is no cost for this training, and we encourage all persons who are responsible
for planning school meals or who help to plan meals to attend.
2005 School Foodservice
Summer Short Courses Scheduled
Are you thinking about your summer yet? We are! Plans are underway for the courses to be offered in conjunction with Iowa State University Extension. We encourage each of you to make a commitment to personal and professional growth by attending training that is offered. School food service personnel are faced with new issues and new challenges as directed in the child nutrition reauthorization bill, in new regulations, and in our approaches to child obesity and overweight management. If you haven’t been to short courses for the past 5 years, or have never attended, consider this your personal invitation—we’d love to see you there!
The following
courses are planned to take place in Ames next summer:
|
2005 School Foodservice Summer Short
Courses |
||
|
June 14-15 |
School
Foodservice Basics |
Scheman |
|
June 20 |
Manager’s
Update |
Gateway Center |
|
July 5-6 |
Financial
Management |
1 MacKay Hall |
|
July 12-13 |
Joys and
Challenges |
Scheman |
|
July 19 |
Building your
HACCP Program |
1 MacKay Hall |
|
July 20 |
Advancing your
HACCP Program |
1 MacKay Hall |
|
July 26-27 |
Healthy Edge |
Scheman |
|
Aug. 9-10 |
||