FUSD aims for more yums on school menus

Published online on Sunday, Jul. 12, 2009

Forget the bland turkey bits with gravy over mashed potatoes and peas. School cafeterias today are trending more toward ethnic variety and foods with spice -- chipotle patty melts, egg-and-chorizo breakfast burritos and Asian noodles.

And soon you can forget the cardboard apple juice box. Schools know that slick packaging is critical -- like providing kiwi-strawberry juice in a Red Bull-like aluminum can.

School food experts are constantly tweaking cafeteria menus to tempt the finicky palates of the more than 30 million children who eat at school each day. It's all part of a broader effort to keep students healthy and well-fed, which studies show helps academic performance.

Jose Alvarado, food services director with Fresno Unified School District, said students are more sophisticated about their food choices today, so district officials need to figure out what they like.

The food has to be appealing, similar to what students would choose to eat outside of school, said Alvarado. Many prefer spicy foods, but "they are used to healthy foods, too," he said.

Alvarado was on a panel that recently heard presentations from more than 30 food vendors vying to get their products into Fresno Unified schools, which feed more than 54,000 students daily -- a number the 75,000-student district is trying to increase.

Over three days in June, school cafeteria workers, nutrition experts and food service officials met at the district's central kitchen. They sampled everything from teriyaki slam dunkers to jalapeño burgers.

Fresno schools still prepare some food from scratch, but half the district's schools don't have full, on-site kitchens, said Alvarado. The vendor products -- often frozen or pre-cooked -- are a cost-effective way of feeding students. "It's part of the continuing effort to provide more choice," he said.

There was Tex-Mex taco-style biscuits and Stix O' Fire -- spicy-hot, crunchy cheese snacks. For breakfast, a pizza-flavored omelette and yogurt parfait sprinkled with granola and fresh blueberries.

Panel favorites included a jalapeño burger, chipotle patty melt, onion-battered green beans and kung pao chicken. School district officials still are negotiating cost on items but hope to try out some of the new foods in a few schools in August where students will weigh in on their favorites. "The ultimate test is the kids," Alvarado said.

District officials decided it was not beneficial to include students on the initial panel. With three days of testing and so many vendors, they preferred to trim down the choices and decide which foods to put on the pilot menus.

If the students like the new items, they could be available in Fresno schools by October.

But it's not just about taste. School food has to adhere state and federal nutritional guidelines that limit everything from trans fats to sodium and specify fruit and vegetable requirements.

Marisa Gonzalez, nutritionist for Fresno Unified, put in her vote for Pop Chips, an alternative for potato chip-like snacks that might be sold in vending machines or a la carte. The 100-calorie pack of heat-pressure-popped chips contain no trans fats. She predicted students would like the taste and -- because the bag didn't advertise the chips as healthy or baked -- would go for them.

Packaging is important, Alvarado said.

That's why district officials like a new juice called Fruit 66 that comes in orange-tangerine, kiwi-strawberry and apple-berry and in a small aluminum can. "It has the look of a high-energy drink, but it's healthy," he said. It could replace juice boxes, which are a particularly hard sell to older students, Alvarado said.