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by Jennifer McClellan - Sept. 17, 2012 02:32 PM
The Republic | azcentral.com
It's lunchtime at Abraham Lincoln Traditional School in Phoenix and third-grader Kenny Talavera is at the fruit and salad bar. He stands on his toes, using a pair of metal tongs to pile strawberries on his tray.
Kenny is quick. He manages to heap half his tray with about a dozen red, ripe fruit before lunch clerk Kim Bradfield notices and calls out, "That's enough, Kenny."
Kenny flashes her a wide-eyed look, as if he's been caught with his hand in the cookie jar, and Bradfield smiles back. "I like strawberries," the 9-year-old boy says, as he walks away with a tray of fruit, baked chicken nuggets and 1 percent regular milk.
He sits down at a rollout table with the rest of teacher Jennifer Cowlthrop's third-grade class and rests his strawberry-heavy plate next to those filled with fat-free chocolate milk, strawberry-kiwi fruit slushies, purple grapes, steamed broccoli and baked potatoes.
Kenny and the other students don't notice, but there are only five chicken nuggets on their plates - one less than last year. The potato toppings have been updated to reduced-fat cheese and turkey bacon, and the fruit slushy is 100 percent juice.
The changes are typical of those being made across the country, where school districts are tweaking menus to meet new nutritional standards for school lunches mandated by the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act. Signed into law by President Barack Obama in 2010, the USDA regulations went into effect July 1.
The law marks the first major update to the National School Lunch Program guidelines in 15 years. They aim to improve overall health by providing more nutritious meals and to combat childhood obesity by decreasing calories, saturated fat and sodium.
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"The idea isn't to get calories into kids, but to help fill nutritional gaps in children," said Margo Wootan, director of nutrition policy at the Washington, D.C.-based Center for Science in the Public Interest.
"School lunch is a very important source of nutrition for low-income students," she said. "And a lot of middle-income parents would rather buy their kids lunch, but they don't have confidence in the program. Buying a hot, healthy meal for $2.50 is a really good deal. Hopefully, these new standards will help boost their confidence in the school lunch program."
The law, developed in accordance with the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, calls for larger portions of fruits and vegetables, more whole grains, less sodium and the elimination of trans fat in school lunches.
The minimum calories allowed per lunch were reduced, and a calorie maximum was set for the first time. Now, lunches are capped at:
650 calories for Grades K-5.
700 calories for Grades 6-8.
850 calories for Grades 9-12.
Milk can be at most 1 percent fat, while flavored milk, such as chocolate or strawberry, must be fat-free.
5 meal components
Alysia Quijada is the last of Cowlthrop's class to go through the lunch line.
As a kindergartener, Alysia brought her lunch because she didn't like the cafeteria food. She started eating at school over the last two years, after noticing more and tastier choices.
"She's commented on the food changes," said Alysia's mother, Heather Quijada, 33. "She said she has to have fruit and vegetable, and there's a bigger variety. She's happier about that. She eats fruits and vegetables at home, but I'm never sure if she eats them at school because they're chatting. If schools offer fruits and vegetables, it gives them a chance to eat the right stuff."
After washing her hands at the sinks directly outside the cafeteria, the 8-year-old picks up a tray and loads it with a fruit slushy and half-pint carton of fat-free chocolate milk. Alysia slides her tray down the line, moving quickly and adding items without hesitation.
Like many Arizona schools, Abraham Lincoln Traditional follows the Offer Versus Serve method, which minimizes waste by allowing students to choose what they put on their trays.
Alysia skips the steamed broccoli and grabs the chicken nuggets, one of her favorite lunch items. Passing the baked potato, and then the peanut butter and jelly with crackers, she picks up a pack of grapes.
At the end of the line, Bradfield, the lunch clerk, looks at her plate, checking to see that Alysia has the minimum elements.
"We used to average the nutrition over a week, but now have to make sure we hit certain components," said Connie Parmenter, nutrition services director at Washington Elementary School District, which includes Abraham Lincoln Traditional.
Last year, the U.S. Department of Agriculture ditched the food pyramid model and adopted a circular plate divided into five portion components: meat or meat alternate (protein), grains, fruit, vegetable and milk (dairy). A student must have three of the five components on his or her tray to be considered a meal.
To qualify as a reimbursable meal, a student must have at least a half-cup of fruit or vegetable per meal.
New this year, meals must also include vegetable subgroups of dark green, red/orange, legumes, starchy and "other."
For example, broccoli and romaine lettuce qualify as dark green, red peppers and carrots as red/orange, hummus and bean burritos as legumes, corn and potatoes as starchy, and onions and cucumbers as other.
Alysia has three of the five components, and Bradfield gives her the OK. Like every other student, Alysia pays by punching her six-digit ID code into a pin-pad.
Students memorize their ID codes in kindergarten, and use them through eighth grade. Replacing cash with digital payment makes lunch more efficient and protects the identity of students enrolled in the free and reduced lunch program.
"No one can see who's paying and who isn't but me," said Bradfield, who monitors both students plates and a computer screen.
Funding healthy lunches
The National School Lunch Program has been around since 1946. Today, the roughly $10 billion program feeds more than 31 million students across the country. More than 65 percent of Arizona's 1 million-plus students participate in school lunches.
Schools that participate get cash and free agricultural commodities, such as tomatoes, meat and cheese. In return, schools must offer free and reduced-price lunches to low-income families.
Families with an income of up to 130 percent of the poverty level - $29,064 a year for a family of four - are eligible for free meals.
Those earning up to 185 percent of poverty level - $41,348 for a family of four - qualify for reduced-price meals.
About two-thirds are eligible for free and reduced-price lunch in Arizona, on par with the national average of 67 percent.
The federal government reimburses districts $2.86 for free meals, $2.46 for reduced-price and 27 cents for full-price meals. The reimbursement rates are the same for every school nationwide, regardless of meal cost.
The Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act includes $4.5 billion in new funding over 10 years. That includes an additional reimbursement of 6 cents per meal starting in October for schools that meet the new nutrition guidelines. It will be the first significant reimbursement rate increase in more than 30 years.
Alysia and the rest of Cowlthrop's class are finished eating in 18 minutes, giving them about 20 minutes outside to play soccer and swing on the playground.
Alysia ate all her food, while some of her classmates threw away a Gala apple, florets of broccoli, partial potatoes and half-eaten salads.
"It takes the kids longer to eat an apple or whole pear," Parmenter said. "But I think the changes are working; they're taking more fruits and veggies."
Little Kenny sure is.
