USDA recognizes school districts for innovations in school meals

Four school districts in Alaska, Iowa, Maine and Ohio have received awards for their innovative efforts to improve the nutritional quality of meals for students.

The announcement was made in front of nearly 850 school nutrition professionals at the School Nutrition Association Legislative Action Conference during National School Breakfast Week, according to a news release.

These school districts are the first winners of Healthy Meals Incentives Recognition Awards, jointly created by the USDA and Action for Healthy Kids as part of USDA’s Healthy Meals Incentives Initiative, also known as HMI, the release said.

“For many children, school meals are the healthiest, most nutritious meals in their day-to-day lives,” Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said in the release. “Investing in innovative, high-quality school meals that students enjoy is one of many actions the Biden-Harris Administration is taking to improve nutrition for young Americans. At USDA, we are proud to recognize the schools that are going the extra mile in providing nutritious meals for students and helping them reach their fullest potential.”

The four awardees, along with 260 other small and/or rural school districts, also received HMI grants last summer to enhance the nutritional quality of their school meals, according to the release.

The four districts recognized were:

• Clear Lake Community School District (Iowa) has been recognized as a “Lunch Trailblazer” for reducing sodium in its menu items through creative strategies such as sourcing low- or no-sodium products, increasing the use of fresh local foods and enhancing flavors with custom spice blends. “We’ve been hosting monthly taste tests for our students, which feature locally grown foods,” Julie Udelhofen, food service director for the district, said in the release. “These events are a wonderful opportunity to introduce our students to new produce items as well as show our students that their opinions matter to us.”
• Sandy Valley Local School District (Ohio) has been recognized as a “Lunch Trailblazer” for lowering sodium in school lunches by procuring fresh and/or frozen meat and produce and selecting lower-sodium foods for menu items, according to the release. Student Council and Social Justice teams act as an advisory board by evaluating new school menu items and gathering feedback from their peers. The school district also conducts districtwide taste tests to gauge student interest in different scratch cooking options. “We are trying to incorporate more scratch cooking into [our] menus” Tina Kindelberger, food service director for the district, said in the release. “Students have loved some of our new reduced sodium menu items, including the chicken queso chowder and buffalo chicken melt.”
• Petersburg School District (Alaska) is receiving the “Innovation in the Preparation of School Meals” award for its commitment to creating scratch and semi-scratch foods that incorporate local and culturally relevant ingredients like moose meat, carrots, herring eggs and kale. “We recently had the Petersburg Indian Association come into the culinary classes to help the students prepare moose roasts and a moose stock gravy,” Carlee Johnson McIntosh, food service director for the district, said in the release. “Then, we had a lunch taste testing of the moose roasts and moose gravy for our students.”
• Regional School Unit 89 (Maine) is receiving the “Innovation in Preparation of School Meals” award for incorporating more scratch cooking into menu items, such as homemade sub rolls using its oatmeal bread recipe, homemade croutons, pickles and roasted chickpeas. RSU 89 has also partnered with local farm Keep Ridge Farm in Benedicta to source produce like squash, onion, eggs, carrots and kale, the release said. It hosts monthly taste tests allowing the student body to determine what the next new menu item will be. “At our annual Thanksgiving meal, we featured Keep Ridge Farm roasted squash, local farmer Steve Crouse’s potatoes that we boiled and mashed, and turkey from USDA Foods in our homemade gravy and homemade stuffing,” Denise Tapley Proctor, food service director at RSU 89, said in the release. “The meal was well received by the community, and the reactions of our kids make us love the change in direction our school is making to more scratch cooking.”

For more information about the awardees, visit the HMI Awardee Spotlight webpage.