Courtesy Hakim Fobia, Agricultural Marketing Service Sample school menu items were on display Aug. 21 at a Mushroom Council tasting event in San Jose. (CORRECTED) The Mushroom Council offered a tasting event for school lunch mushroom-supplemented meat entrees at the U.S. Department of Agriculture offices in Washington, D.C.
Kathleen Merrigan, deputy secretary, and Janey Thornton, deputy undersecretary for food, nutrition and consumer services, were on hand Aug. 21, as were members of the USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service and Food Nutrition Service.
They sampled dishes including mushroom meatballs, turkey mushroom burgers, turkey mushroom spaghetti, mushroom meat tacos and mushroom meatloaf, according to a news release. Recipes are online.
Sample menu trays displayed how the entrees compliment school lunch meal plans and meet new USDA requirements. Mushrooms add a serving of vegetables to plates, according to the council.
“Chopped mushrooms look similar and blend seamlessly with meat, so students’ favorite meals can be made healthier without losing taste, volume or satisfying texture,” Bart Minor, president of the San Jose-based council, said in the release.
The council plans to work with meat processors to develop a ready to eat, meat-mushroom blend for school lunch programs.
The dishes have also been sampled at the School Nutrition Association convention and the Produce Marketing Association Foodservice Conference.
Correction: The original article misstated the location of the event.
Comments (0) Leave a comment