APRIL 3-6, 2013, LONG BEACH, CA “Red, Yellow, Green, GO! with Salad Bars to meet Vegetable and Fruit Requirements in the New HHFKA Meal Pattern” These materials have been prepared by the CASBO Central Section Child Nutrition Professional Council have not been reviewed by State CASBO for approval, so therefore are not an official statement of CASBO.

SALAD BARS Good morning and welcome to this presentation dedicated to salad bars. Thank you for joining us today. In this presentation, we will review how salad bars may be used to help implement the new meal pattern regulations, especially the vegetable sub-groups. Topics covered include portion size, salad bar set up, menu production records, point of service, and food safety. Please raise your hand if you have a question during the presentation and we will do our best to answer it. There will be a question period at the end of the presentation, if time permits. “Red, Yellow, Green, GO! with Salad Bars to meet Vegetable and Fruit Requirements in the New HHFKA Meal Pattern”

Presenter: Regina G. Ocampo Sanger Unified School District Child Nutrition Director Our presenter today is Regina Ocampo. Regina Ocampo has a bachelors of science in Dietetics and Food Administration and a masters of science in Food and Nutritional Sciences, both from CSU, Fresno. Regina is currently the director of Child Nutrition for Sanger Unified School District and has been for 1 ½ years. Regina has worked for over 12 years as a director and/or assistant director for school food service programs. She has worked for Earlimart School District, Fresno Unified School District, and now Sanger Unified School District. Throughout her career, she has been active in SHAPE (Shaping Health as Partners in Education) and has worked closely with her food service teams, students, teachers, parents and community partners to provide healthy, safe, and appetizing meals to students and staff. Sanger Unified has several schools that have achieved the Bronze or Silver level in the Alliance for Healthier Schools program. Salad bars have been a very integral part of the success of the Child Nutrition program in Sanger Unified for many years. They have salad bars at all 14 of their elementary schools, a garden bar at the middle school, and a Salad/Sandwich bar at the high school that was named “HB4U” or “Healthy Bar for You” by the HS students. Regina will be sharing with you some ideas and techniques to help schools or districts make salad bars a successful part of their program.

Goals of Presentation Review requirements for successful implementation of salad bars in schools Best Practices: Present ways salad bars can be instrumental in helping schools meet new meal regulations Thank you Alex and Thank you all for attending this morning. I will start by stating the goal of this presentation, it is to provide you with ideas and examples of Salad Bar best practices that you may put to use immediately. Salad bars offer a unique way to help school nutrition programs meet the new meal pattern regulations. They make it easier for schools to provide the required vegetable subgroups and fruit servings. By offering a wide variety of colorful, attractive produce, students are encouraged to select and consume more healthful choices. Salad bars also create happy, satisfied customers by giving them choices. Today we will review various requirements necessary for successful implementation of salad bars in schools in order to be compliant with current standards in school nutrition.

Presentation OBJECTIVES Review Requirements Discuss different styles of salad bars Review menu production record requirements Review point of service requirements Review food safety aspects The presentation today is organized to show how salad bars may help you meet the new meal regulations. We will review requirements for fruits and vegetable types along with portion sizes required in the new meal pattern regulations, discuss a variety of salad bar styles that might work for your program, review menu production record requirements, review point of service requirements for determining a reimbursable meal, and discuss important food safety aspects of salad bars.

SALAD BARS Positive way to promote your school meal program and fresh products Many school nutrition programs have built their reputation on their salad bar program. They work closely with local farmers and students to create and promote their signature offerings.

WHY SALAD BARS? Great way to offer a wide variety of fruits and vegetables and increase daily consumption Assist schools in meeting the vegetable subgroup requirements Attractive way to encourage students to try new foods Can service multiple lines Let’s begin by reviewing the advantages of using salad bars in schools. First, they provide the opportunity to offer a wide variety of fruit and vegetable selections, which in turn leads to an increase in daily consumption. The vegetable subgroups are easy to plan and serve using a variety of choices. Attractive, colorful salad bars encourage students to select and try new foods. Schools utilizing multiple serving windows or lines may choose to offer a centrally-located salad bar, available to all students before or after they pass through the serving lines.

REQUIRMENTS ½ ¾ 1¼ Meal Components Fruits (cups) Vegetables (cups)   HHFKA 2012-2013 National School Lunch Meal Pattern Grades K-5 Grades 6-8 Grades 9-12 Meal Components Amount of Food Per Week (Minimum Per Day) Fruits (cups) 2½ (½) 5 (1) Vegetables (cups) 3¾ (¾) Dark green ½ Red/Orange ¾ 1¼ Beans and peas (legumes) Starchy Other Additional Veg to Reach Total 1 1½ Grains (oz. eq) 8-9 (1) 8-10 (1) 10-12 (2) Meats/Meat Alternates (oz. eq) 9-10 (1) Fluid milk (cups)

FRUIT Meal Components Fruits (cups)   HHFKA 2012-2013 National School Lunch Meal Pattern Grades K-5 Grades 6-8 Grades 9-12 Meal Components Amount of Food Per Week (Minimum Per Day) Fruits (cups) 2½ (½) 5 (1)

VEGETABLES 3¾ (¾) 5 (1) ½ ¾ 1¼ 1 1½ Meal Components Vegetables (cups)   HHFKA 2012-2013 National School Lunch Meal Pattern Grades K-5 Grades 6-8 Grades 9-12 Meal Components Amount of Food Per Week (Minimum Per Day) Vegetables (cups) 3¾ (¾) 5 (1) Dark green ½ Red/Orange ¾ 1¼ Beans and peas (legumes) Starchy Other Additional Veg to Reach Total 1 1½

VEGETABLES This sheet on Vegetable Sub-Groups is also one of your handouts

PORTION SIZE Consistent with the meal pattern For age/grade grouping Be sure to offer enough per day to equal the minimum over the week! Consistent with the meal pattern For age/grade grouping For Offer vs. Serve Pre-portioning: ¼ cup and ½ cup servings for K-8 ½ cup servings may be better for 9-12 Is the portion size consistent with the new meal regulations for age/grade grouping and also for offer vs. serve? If pre-portioned, ¼ cup and ½ cup servings may work best for K - 8 students to meet the ¾ cup vegetable minimum and the ½ cup fruit minimum offering per day. If pre-portioned, ½ cup serving sizes may be better for grades 9 - 12 to meet the 1 cup vegetable and 1 cup fruit minimum offering per day.

PORTION SIZE Appropriate Affordable 1 cup salad greens vs. 1 cup radishes Affordable 1 cup fresh pineapple vs. 1 cup fresh apple Purchase “In-Season” and “Regional” fresh produce When planning salad bars, portion size is one of the many variables that must be considered. Is the vegetable subgroup planned portion size appropriate for students? Serving 1 cup of salad greens would be considered appropriate; serving 1 cup of radishes is not a likely serving size for students. Remember: raw, leafy salad greens now credit at half the volume served with the new meal regulations. For example, a 1 cup of Romaine Lettuce contributes ½ cup toward the “dark green” vegetable subgroup. Is the portion size affordable? Serving one cup of fresh pineapple on a regular basis is relatively expensive vs. serving a 1 cup serving of fresh apples which would readily fall within budget parameters. Purchasing fruits and vegetables in season and utilizing Department of Defense produce and USDA foods are tremendous ways to assist districts in managing produce costs.

CHOICES Plan choices for ease of selection ½ cup fruit ¼ cup and ½ cup vegetables A vegetable mix with at least 1/8 cup of each type of veggie A combo of fruits and vegetables to meet ½ cup Are salad bar choices planned appropriately so students can easily select the minimum ½ cup of fruit or ½ cup of vegetables or ½ cup combination of fruit and vegetable choices to meet the new meal pattern requirements?

M/MA, Grains and Milk If offered on the salad bar, do they meet the daily minimum meal requirements? 1 oz. M/MA and 1 Grain for K-8 2 oz. M/MA and 2 Grains for 9-12 Do they meet the weekly minimum (and not exceed maximum [now flexible!]) for M/MA and Grains requirements? Consider offering a pre- portioned M/MA “Salad Topper” on the serving line OR a separate “Topper Bar” with M/MA and Grain choices If the salad bar offers all five meal components, the daily minimum servings of M/MA and grains must be offered. In addition, the M/MA and grains servings must meet the minimum (and not exceed maximum) servings per week. A possibility to consider is pre-portioning the M/MA and grains components in a container, and offering this as a “salad topper” choice on the serving line. Students really enjoy a topper of, for example, grilled chicken, shredded cheese, croutons, and sunflower seeds accompanied by a roll. They can shake the salad topper onto the choices made at the salad bar. A separate “Topper Bar” could also be offered to students for selection of the M/MA and Grain components. It is important for the monitor to ensure that the students are only selecting the planned portion sizes for the M/MA and grains components. Next slide is a scenario / question for the group…..

Scenario If a student has selected a serving of milk and no M/MA or Grain choices, what does the student need to select from the salad bar in order to have a reimbursable meal?? Let’s take a look at this scenario. If a student has selected a serving of milk and no M/MA and/or no Grain choices on the serving line, what does the student need to select from the salad bar in order to have a reimbursable meal? If a student selects only three components, and two of these three components are fruits and vegetables, the student may select ½ cup of either the fruit or vegetable as one component, but then the student must select the full component of the other (1/2 cup at K-8 and 1 cup at HS).

Signage Located at or near the beginning of serving line Simple and easy to understand Possible color coding of food choices to match color coding on signs Colorful photos of food choices may help On a self-serve salad bar, is it clear to the students and the cashier what quantities of food items the student may select as well as what food items must be selected for the choices to qualify for a reimbursable meal? This may be challenging. Some suggestions to help with this issue include: Simple, colorful posters or signage with photos of the food items. Food choices color-coded to match colors of meal components. Large, colorful photos of fresh fruits and vegetables posted in the cafeteria to help encourage students to select these choices.

Sample Signage This is a sample of a sign that can be posted at the beginning of the serving line. It specifies the five different meal components as well as the number of choices of fruits and vegetables the student may select. In this example, students may select up to four different fruit and/or vegetables. All vegetable and fruit offerings are portioned in ½ cup serving sizes.

Sample Signage (sanger usd) This is an additional example of signage, showing examples of meal component choices to assist students in selecting a reimbursable meal.

Handouts/Resources USDA memo SP 02-2010 (Revised): Salad Bars in the National School Lunch Program (provided) Website Resources: Wake Up to Fresh Fruits and Vegetables http://www.wakeupfv.com Fruit and Vegetables Galore http://www.fns.usda.gov/tn/resources/fv_galore.html USDA and CDE encourage the use of salad bars in schools. The USDA memo cited on this slide can be found in the handouts. It is a helpful guide for implementing successful salad bars in schools. Wake Up to Fresh Fruits and Vegetables offers many fresh and creative ideas and also includes short videos which may be used for staff training. Fruits and Vegetables Galore is another wonderful resource which includes tips on planning, purchasing, protecting, presenting, and promoting fruits and vegetables.

Nutrition Education Connections Harvest of the Month Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Grants Alliance for a Healthier Generation US Healthier School Challenge Salad bars help to connect and integrate classroom nutrition education activities with the cafeteria. Many schools enjoy the benefits of participating in Harvest of the Month activities and/or the Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program. These programs help to link taste testings or snack servings with the salad bar offerings in the cafeteria. They also assist schools with meeting the guidelines of the Healthier US School Challenge.

Salad Bar Styles Some schools choose to offer the M/MA, grains, and milk choices on the traditional serving line with the salad bar offering a selection of fruit and vegetable meal components. Other schools offer all five meal components on the salad bar, and students are able to select a reimbursable meal. Theme bars may also be a fun and popular way of offering choices for a reimbursable meal.

Variety of Salad Bar Styles Fruit and Vegetable choices only Choices for an entire reimbursable meal Theme Bars Baked Potato Bar Taco Bar Pasta Bar Burger Bar Sandwich Bar Some schools choose to offer the M/MA, grains, and milk choices on the traditional serving line with the salad bar offering a selection of fruit and vegetable meal components. Other schools offer all five meal components on the salad bar, and students are able to select a reimbursable meal. Theme bars may also be a fun and popular way of offering choices for a reimbursable meal.

Salad Bar Serving Styles Traditional self-serve Pre-portioned, pre-packed choices Grab and Go sides at multiple windows In addition to various food component offering styles, there are also a variety of ways to serve the choices. The traditional style allows students to serve themselves at the salad bar. Other schools have opted to pre-portion and pre-package the salad bar choices. This option helps to ensure specific serving sizes of fruits and vegetables. It also offers the flexibility of mixing subgroups of vegetables such as pre-packing dark green broccoli florets and red orange baby carrots together in one package. Please note that vegetable combinations must contain at least 1/8 cup each of different vegetable sub-groups in order to be credited for the vegetable sub-group. Pre-packaging reduces food safety concerns, although it does increase packaging costs and packaging waste. Offering the same pre-packaged grab and go sides at multiple service windows can work extremely well. This helps to ensure that all students are offered all of the same vegetable subgroups and fruit components in a quick and efficient manner.

More Possibilities Farmer’s Market Harvest Bar Some schools have opted to set up a cart with an attractive variety of fruits and vegetables to resemble a farmer’s market. Still others offer a Harvest Bar by arranging pre-packaged fruits and vegetables in attractive containers and baskets set up on serving line tables or racks above speed-line units. As you can see, the possibilities are endless depending upon the set up of your schools.

Choose your style of Salad Bar…. Choose the one that best meets the needs of your program Custom Design = Endless Possibilities! There are many different styles of salad bars and it is important to choose the style that best meets the needs of your program and individual school sites. It is not a “one size fits all” method. Areas to review when considering a salad bar include: available service area, traffic flow, equipment needs, budget, and staff availability for preparation, service, and monitoring. 26

Fresh Choices Incorporate fresh, local (or regional) produce Promote Farm to School programs Connect with School Gardens (if available) Salad bars also offer a tremendous way to incorporate fresh, regional produce from California and promote Farm to School programs. Many districts also use their salad bar to connect with the school garden by serving the same vegetables that the students are growing. Sanger Unified is able to locally source oranges, peaches, nectarine, plums, grapes, and dried fruit (seasonally), from local valley growers and packers.

Let’s Move Salad Bars to Schools! Michelle Obama’s campaign Goal to bring 6,000 new salad bars into Child Nutrition programs http://www.saladbars2schools.org First lady, Michelle Obama, initiated the Let’s Move Salad Bars to Schools campaign. The goal of this program is to bring 6,000 new salad bars into Child Nutrition programs across the nation. Please refer to this web site for more information about the program and learn how you might qualify to receive a new salad bar for your schools.

Smarter Lunchrooms Best Practices Research based techniques developed at Cornell University http://www.smarterlunchrooms.org The Smarter Lunchrooms Best Practices are the result of research conducted by the Cornell Center for Behavioral Economics in Child Nutrition Programs (The BEN Center). BEN Center research has uncovered several basic principles that support a variety of changes that can be made in school cafeterias to help “nudge” students toward healthier selections and healthier eating behaviors at lunch. Most of these are simple and low-cost or no-cost changes that really make a big difference. I am going to mention a few of their suggestions. I encourage you to visit their web site for more information and ideas, including an evaluation and implementation guide.

Smarter Lunchrooms Techniques Offer fruit in at least two locations Offer fruit in bowl or basket Name vegetables creatively Visual prompting – Signage “Fresh Salad Bar with every entrée” “Last chance to choose fruit” “Fresh fruits and vegetables choices with every lunch” These techniques have proven to increase consumption of fruits and vegetables. Research found that students selected more fruit when fruit was: convenient and highly visible, offered in attractive containers rather that stainless steel pans, and available in at least two locations When vegetables are creatively named, such as X-Ray Carrots, students selected more vegetables. This concept is most successful with primary students. Visual prompting through signage is also a very effective way to increase the selection of fruits and vegetables.

Salad Bar Design Attractive and Inviting Variety Color Texture Shape Presentation Our salad bars need to be attractive and inviting. The old saying “we eat with our eyes” is so true. Variety, color, texture, and shape all contribute to outstanding meal presentation. Change things up to keep choices interesting. For example, serve a variety of apples: red, bright green and yellow. Cut cucumbers in coins as well as sticks and toss in lemon juice and chili powder to offer variety. Another idea is to provide a shaker with chili powder for students to add to any of their fruit and vegetable choices. It is important to monitor and maintain salad bars so that they are well stocked and look bountiful throughout the entire serving period. Many of you are already doing this.

More Ideas Install TV monitors in Cafeterias Highlight Photos of daily menu options Show sample tray choices Provide Nutrition Education Play Trivia Quizzes – Make it FUN School districts across the country are having tremendous success with the installation of TV monitors in the cafeteria. These monitors catch the attention of students and can be used to highlight daily menu options and sample tray choices, provide nutrition education, and even to play trivia quizzes and interactive games. Engaging the students makes mealtime fun.

More Ideas Place photos of serving sizes placed above food item serve as a helpful guide Utilize My Plate/My Tray Tie your menu and nutrition education back to your district’s Student Wellness Policy Promote at Back to School Night Programs Display salad bar filled with actual daily choices Educate parents, families and community about choices and portion requirements Placing photos of planned serving sizes above the food item serves as a helpful guide for student selection. My Plate/My Tray concepts may be used to encourage students to select more fruits and vegetables, to fill half of their plate . Promoting your salad bars and your entire child nutrition program at Back to School Night events is one of the most effective ways to educate parents, families, and the community. These events are often the most well-attended programs of the year and are a great way to connect with your customers at the beginning of the school year.

Salad Bar Templates Provide to each school site lead Salad Bar selections consistent Planned for maximum customer appeal To help ensure attractive salad bar set up at all school sites, consider providing a salad bar template to assist staff with specific placement of food items for maximum appeal.

SUSD Sample Template The salad bar template on top illustrates the placement of the various fruit and vegetable items on a salad bar. It also denotes the size pan to be used. The menu notes provide information on serving size, serving utensil and the set up for 100 servings.

SUSD Sample Template The salad bar template on top illustrates the placement of the various fruit and vegetable items on a salad bar. It also denotes the size pan to be used. The menu notes provide information on serving size, serving utensil and the set up for 100 servings.

Salad Bars: menu production records & recipes

Menu Production Records With the new Food Based Menu Planning Every item offered on the salad bar must be listed and accounted for separately on the Menu Production Record (MPR) No longer list the salad bar recipe number on MPR Pre-print the salad bar MPR with most of required information If you were using Nutrient Standard Menu Planning in the past, you developed recipes for your salad bars. The recipe numbers were listed on the Menu Production Record. With the new Food Based Menu Planning System, every item offered on the salad bar must be listed and accounted for separately on the Menu Production Record in place of listing the recipe number. A sample salad bar menu production record can be found in the handouts. To help save time and ensure accurate record keeping, it is recommended that you pre-print the salad bar menu production record with most of the required information and have site staff record the amount of each item prepared and placed on the salad bar and the amount left over for each day.

Salad Bar Recipes Can be used to conduct your own nutrient analysis Helpful way to establish and provide direction to site staff on daily set up of salad bar choices Critical to use historical data from MPR to develop salad bar recipes and continually update information based on student consumption (usage study) You may still use a recipe for the salad bar if you continue to analyze your menu. The USDA memo in the handouts provides a link to information regarding nutrient analysis for salad bars. Salad bar recipes are also very helpful as a way to establish and provide direction to site staff on the setup of the various salad bar choices for each day of the week. When developing your recipes, it is critical to use the historical data from the menu production records. This data must be continually updated based on the changes in the salad bar offerings and also changes in student consumption. It is important that salad bar recipes include the contribution to the meal pattern, including the vegetable sub groups. An example of this would be a recipe for broccoli coleslaw, indicating that ½ cup serving size provides ¼ cup dark green vegetables and ¼ cup other vegetables.

Point of service

Point of Service Definition: The point at which you can determine if the student took the required meal components for a reimbursable meal NOTE: Even if the student selected ½ cup of fruit and/or vegetable with the entrée, the student must still go by the salad bar line and be offered all of the fruit and vegetable subgroups of the meal The next area to consider is the location of the point of service for your total meal. The point of service must be the point at which you can determine if the student took the required meal components for a reimbursable meal.    Even if the student has selected ½ cup of fruit and/or vegetables when selecting the entrée the student must still be offered all of the fruit and vegetable subgroups of the meal. This means that they must pass by the salad bar line even if they do not select any items.

Location, Location, Location! If the cashier is located before the salad bar, a monitor must check the meal at the end of the line to ensure that it is reimbursable. The monitor can make the student take the ½ cup fruit and/or vegetable requirement. Place a bowl of fruit and boxes of raisins/dried fruit at the end of the line. The monitor also helps ensure food safety. If the point of service is located at the end of the line, the cashier must be well trained and knowledgeable in order to quickly recognize serving sizes and a reimbursable meal. If the cashier is located before the salad bar, a monitor must check the meal at the end of the line to ensure that it is reimbursable. The monitor must know what action to take if the meal is not reimbursable. With the new meal regulations, the monitor may require the student to take the ½ cup fruit/vegetable requirement. To address this situation, many school districts are placing a bowl of whole fruits and boxed raisins at the end of the line for the monitor to give to the student if necessary. If the meal does not include the minimum ½ cup fruit/vegetable requirement, the meal is not reimbursable. It is also important for the cashier and the monitor to be trained and knowledgeable regarding food safety.  

Space Availability If space is a concern, consider placing the salad bar before the hot serving line. Placing fruit and vegetable choices at the beginning of the line encourages the selection and consumption of more fruits and vegetables. If sites have the space, a salad bar may be placed before the hot serving line. This location encourages students to select and consume more fruits and vegetables.

Food safety

Food Safety Food Safety is our #1 priority. Ensure our food is safe for our customers Reduce the risk of food-borne illness Healthy customers = Happy customers!   Food safety is always upper-most in the minds of school nutrition professionals. We all want to ensure that our food is safe for our customers. The last thing we would want to occur is an outbreak of a food-borne illness. Proper equipment, along with clean, neat serving lines and trained, knowledgeable staff help to ensure food safety.

Help Ensure Food Safety Supply clean utensils and dispensers Monitor salad bar during meal service Train staff on proper monitoring for food components as well as food safety Post signs on salad bar etiquette Install hand sanitizing stations in cafeteria Dispose of leftovers properly, using your SOP If using time as a food safety measure rather than temperature for your site, be sure to have a SOP in place and use a time log to document We can help ensure food safety of salad bars in the following ways, which many of you are familiar with: Supplying clean utensils and dispensers;   Monitoring salad bar during meal service; Training staff on proper monitoring for food components as well as food safety; Posting signs on salad bar etiquette on the salad bar; Installing a hand sanitizing station in the cafeteria; and Having an SOP for the disposal of leftovers. Having an SOP for the use of “time” as a food safety measure

Training Students in Salad Bar Etiquette Wash hands before entering cafeteria or use hand sanitizing station in cafeteria Stay behind the sneeze guard Do NOT touch the food with hands Do not come back for seconds with the same tray (new tray each time) Take what you would like and only what you can eat Do NOT return food to the salad bar   Food safety is not only our responsibility. We can also train our students in the following salad bar etiquette: Wash hands before coming into cafeteria or use the hand sanitizing station; Stay behind sneeze guard; Do not touch food; Do not come back for seconds with the same plate or tray; Take what you would like and only what you can eat (helps to reduce plate waste); and Do not return food to the salad bar. Please refer to the healthyschoolenvironment.org web site for additional information on this topic.

Student Salad Bar Etiquette, continued Use tongs and utensils correctly! Work with primary teachers to send sets of pans, tongs and utensils to classrooms so students can practice Record video of proper use of the salad bar and use as a classroom teaching tool It is essential that students use tongs and utensils correctly.   Work with teachers to send practice sets of pans, tongs, and utensils to primary classrooms so students can become proficient. Items such as cotton balls may be practice foods. Another very effective teaching tool is to record videos of the proper use of the salad bar and show these in the classroom. Consider taking high school students to assist you in creating the video.

Food Safety Resources Local Interpretations of Food Codes and Regulations may vary among local health departments Best to work with your local health department to find the solutions to your individual situations Develop a positive working relationship; become partners in providing the best for your customers It is best to work closely with your local health department to find the best solutions for your individual situations.   By developing a positive working relationship with your local health department, you become partners in providing the best for your customers. Your local health department will also be able to assist you with the most effective ways to utilize produce from the school garden.

Food Safety Resources Federal State Food and Nutrition Services (FNS), USDA http://www.fns.usda.gov/fns/safety/produce-safety.htm FDA Food Code http://www.fda.gov/Food/FoodSafety/RetailFoodProtection/Food Code/FoodCode2009/ucm186451.htm State California Retail Food Code http://www.cdph.ca.gov/services/documents/fdbRFC.pdf These are several food safety resources that you will find useful. The USDA web site above offers a wealth of information and training materials.

NFSMI Guidance Best Practices: Handling Fresh Produce in Schools http://nfsmi.org/documentlibraryfiles/PDF/20110 822025744.pdf HACCP Based SOPs - Preventing Contamination at Food Bars http://sop.nfsmi.org/HACCPBasedSOPs/Preventi ngContaminationatFoodBars.pdf The National Food Service Management Institute also offers excellent food safety materials and other resources for your program.

Farm to School Provide locally grown, delicious, fresh produce to students and staff In-season, regional, specifically California Partner with community and showcase your Child Nutrition Program Strong support from USDA and CDE Partner with farmers, farmer’s markets, local chefs, farming cooperatives and other groups to help promote and serve California produce Helpful website: http://www.healthyschoolenvironment.org/farmtoschool Farm to School is a wonderful way to provide locally grown, delicious produce to students and staff. It is also a great way to partner with the community and showcase your Child Nutrition program. USDA and CDE strongly support these efforts.

Additional Resources SNA Meal Pattern Companion Guide http://www.schoolnutrition.org/mealpattern Network for a Healthy California http://www.cdph.ca.gov/programs/cpns/Pages/Powe rPlayResources.aspx Harvest of the Month http://www.harvestofthemonth.cdph.ca.gov/ Recipes for Kids Challenge http://www.recipesforkidschallenge.com/ These resources provide additional information, recipes, and nutrition education activities to help promote salad bars.

Healthy customers = happy customers   Salad bars can be challenging. At the same time, salad bars are a very rewarding and positive way to encourage and increase fruit and vegetable consumption in our schools and communities. Salad bars offer us a way to meet the new meal requirements by providing fresh, attractive, and healthy choices. Best of all, they also help to create happy and satisfied customers, providing a truly win-win combination.

Thank You Any Questions? I would like to extend special thanks to all my Child Nutrition staff at Sanger Unified who make it possible for our students to receive the benefits of Salad Bars each school day! Thank you for your participation today. Any Questions?