Communities Putting Prevention to Work
Nutrition improvements at public schools in King County
With support from Communities Putting Prevention to Work (CPPW), Seattle Public Schools has developed a Washington Grown, Harvest of the Month program that features local produce, whole grains and dairy in 37 schools in the district. For example, cucumbers from Skagit Valley are featured in the month of October. Cucumbers are offered as a crunchy vegetable choice on the salad bar and were featured in a Mediterrean Salad on October 6 and will be served October 20 in a new bulgar salad called Tabouli. Nutrition education materials were developed to use in classrooms, cafeterias and to share with students and their families. These materials are also available on-line: http://www.seattleschools.org under Nutrition Services Department.
The Seattle Public Schools serves 7,500 breakfasts and 19,500 lunches per day to their students.
The Seattle Public Schools is taking advantage of a Whole Foods Cooking class coordinated by the Auburn School District and funded by the CPPW grant. By year’s end, over 100 of their lunchroom staff will have attended an all-day certified training to learn cooking techniques and information about the nutritional differences between processed and whole foods.
Seattle Public Schools is working to make school meal changes by:
• increasing the variety and amounts of fresh fruits and vegetables offered and providing nutrition education in the cafeterias and classrooms
• providing primarily 100% whole grains products and reducing sodium levels
• developing new menu offerings in the area of main entrees and whole grain side dishes
• providing only milk that is low-fat (1%) or non-fat white or flavored milk Note: flavored milks have changed their formula providing less sugar and no high fructose corn syrup)
Seattle Public Schools is featuring innovative new school lunch recipes developed in partnership with chefs from the Tom Douglas Group at family night events at Roxhill, Concord, John Muir, Emerson, Maple and Van Asselt during October and November.
westseattleblog
West Seattle Blog
West Seattle Blog
