Chicken.

Schools have had plenty complaints and complications with school lunches. They have different varieties too. But, one interesting meal is the chicken. Baked chicken to be exact. School districts started off with bbq chicken but that didn’t seem to work. Students didn’t particularly like it, so, they switched to regular baked chicken. Baked chicken is healthy, that’s why it was chosen. An interview took place at Blaine High School with the school lunch staff, asking a few questions about the chicken…

Questions :

1 : How many students do you think order the chicken ?

-576 students in one days worth .

2 : What do you as the lunch staff do to prepare the chicken , after it is delivered ?

– It comes frozen in a box , precooked .

-They cook it at 350 degrees to about 160 degrees to serve ,

3 : How many times is it delivered ? also how much chicken gets delivered in one trip ?  (weeks … etc. )

– Once every 3 weeks , 330lbs

4 : Why do you get the chicken from where you do ? Is it required ?

-Apper’s food service in st.cloud and because they bid blaine high school to serve their food . Yes it is required

5 :  How do you get the chicken here ? Is it by plane , truck , etc .

– A semi – Truck

6 : Do you think the chicken is healthy?

-Yes

7 : How do you figure out if the students like your food ?

-They have counts everyday about how many students eat it

8 : Do you agree with what the district chef , about the menu ?

-Yes , loves it

9: Who decides what goes into school lunches?

-Assistant director of child nutrition, (Jeff Chounare)

10: How much does the school spend on Chicken a year?

-Not Available Yet , Will get back to us.

11: Why did you choose to add the baked chicken to the schools?

-It was already on the menu and the schools tried bbq chicken but it wasn’t popular, so they switched to regular seasoned baked chicken.

Also, this website: http://thenotebook.org/blog/124596/district-answers-questions-healthy-local-food

talked about how students/parents feel about all school lunches in general.

-Why can’t my children have more fresh food in their meals?

*There is a strict budget for school lunch. The total cost alloted to school lunch is $2.73 and $1.39 is alloted for food. 20 cents is available for fruit, 25 cents for milk,etc. The meals must be nutritionally more fresh food would require a larger budget for each meal. The meals must be nutritionally balanced to meet USDA requirements.

-How can the pre-plated meals be made better?  My child doesn’t like them.

*The School District serves about 110,000 102,000 lunches a week day. There are challenges to preparing these meals quickly, such as heating the pre-plated meals thoroughly to make the meals more attractive. While not all young people will like every menu item on any given day, participation rates for breakfast and lunch significantly exceed comparable Council of Great City Schools benchmarks. This means many young people are eating school lunches.

-What are the differences between a fresh meal and a pre-packaged one when it comes to the food selection and nutritional value?

*The Division of Food Services prepares menus on a monthly basis.  Menus are designed to meet the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) guidelines for protein, vitamin A, vitamin C, iron, calcium, fat, and calories. Satellite menus and full -service menus must comply with these standards.

-Why are junk items like pizza offered every day?

*There is variety in school lunch offerings, including meals like these taken from satellite menus:

• Tuna salad on wheat bun or toasted cheese on oat bran bread with fresh orange, blended fruit juice, 1% milk

• Whole grain spaghetti w/meatballs or taco seasoned beef with nacho chips, pear cup, 1% milk

• 4 x 6 pizza or beef patty on a bun with baby carrots, ranch dressing, blended fruit juice, 1% milk

-Why can’t my children have more fresh food in their meals (e.g. for pre-plated)?

*As described above, there is a strict budget for school lunch. The total cost allotted to school lunch is $2.73, and $1.39 is allotted for food. Within the budget of $1.39 for food, 20 cents is available for fruit, 25 cents for milk and 20-50 cents for protein. Introducing more fresh food would require a larger budget for each meal. The meals must be nutritionally balanced to meet USDA requirements, so, for example, the protein cannot be swapped out for a vegetable. In addition, when meals are pre-plated, fresh food like lettuce and tomato added to burgers may not freeze or travel well, resulting in an unappealing appearance and texture.