What You Need to Know About School Meals 2012-2013 By: Alyssa Owen Dietetic Intern at Davis Nutrition Services Hi my name is Alyssa Owen and I am the current dietetic intern at Davis Nutrition Services and I have the opportunity to talk to you today about the new changes coming to school lunch this year.

Why the Changes? In December of 2010, President Obama passed a law known as the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act. This gave permission to the USDA (United States Department of Agriculture) to make new healthier guidelines in order to make School Lunch and Breakfast more nutritious and healthy for you. You may be asking why these changes are taking place. A few years ago President Obama passed a law known as the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act. This gave permission to the USDA to make new healthier guidelines for School Lunch and Breakfast. Over the next ten years numerous changes will be made to school lunch to make them more nutritious and healthy.

What are the changes? Twice the amount of fruits and vegetables offered Set calorie ranges for grade groups A decrease in sodium content of meals At least half of grains must be whole grains Saturated fat less than 10% of calories Fluid milk must be low-fat unflavored or fat-free flavored Zero grams of Trans fat per serving Some of these changes include: Twice the amount of fruits and vegetables offered, at least half of grains must be whole grains, Fluid milk must be low-fat unflavored or fat-free flavored, there are set calorie ranges for grade groups, there will be a continual decrease in sodium levels of foods, saturated fat must be less than 10% of calories, and 0 trans fats. Davis School has been proactive in implementing these changes for several years and you shouldn’t notice any differences except for the meal requirements.

What are the changes? Twice the amount of fruits and vegetables offered Set calorie ranges for grade groups At least half of grains must be whole grains A decrease in sodium content of meals Fluid milk must be low-fat unflavored or fat-free flavored Saturated fat less than 10% of calories Zero grams of Trans fat per serving The areas in gray are the ones that Davis Nutrition has already been implementing in school meals for the last several years.

Previous Lunch Requirements Entree’ + 1 or more Sides This is what your lunch looked like last year. You were to choose an entrée plus one or more sides.

New Lunch Requirements This is what your lunch will look like this year. These posters will be in each cafeteria to help you remember what your lunch should look like.

What you need to know about lunch… Lunch options will now consist of 5 components of which you will pick a minimum of 3. 1 of your choices MUST be a fruit or a vegetable. The other choices are a milk, grain, and meat/meat alternate. What you need to know as students is that lunch will consist of 5 components and you must pick at least 3. One of your choices must be a fruit or a vegetable. The other components are a milk, grain, and meat/meat alternate. It may take a few days for you to get used to the change but I think you will catch on quickly.

What you need to know about Breakfast… You should take at least 3 components You MUST take at least 1 fruit or juice Breakfast will consist of fruit/juice, grain, and milk. As for breakfast, it is just a little different than lunch in that you need to take at least 3 different food components and at least one of those needs to be a fruit or a juice.

Now Available Online Apply for free or reduced lunch Add money to your student lunch account Lunch Prices for the School Year 2012-2013 Daily Elementary Prices: lunch $1.75 and breakfast $1.25 Adult Prices: lunch $3.00 and breakfast $1.60 We wanted to make you aware that new this year the application for free or reduced price lunches is available online at the Davis School District website, where your parents can also add money to your lunch account. They can also set up monthly auto payment from their checking account to insure funds are always available in your account. And for your information these are the new prices for lunch and breakfast this year. Davis Nutrition Services has not increased meal prices for the last 6 years and the federal government has mandated these price increases. We appreciate your continued support of the Davis Nutrition program.

Thanks! We are excited about the new changes and hope you are too! Thank you for your time and good luck with the upcoming school year!