The Great Trays initiative, led by the Minnesota Department of Health, helps schools across the state increase the amount of healthy foods they serve.

Program goals:

1. Expand the Minnesota School Food Buying Group to extend food cost savings on common meal components to more districts throughout the state.

2. Encourage schools to purchase nutritious foods for school lunches, focusing on reduced saturated fat and sodium, and increased use of whole grain products and fruits and vegetables, including Minnesota Grown foods.

3. Support school nutrition professionals with a sustainable system of new tools and updated training.

Is your school district participating? Click here to see

If your district is not participating, take action!

Here are some talking points to keep in mind when approaching your district:

• Understand the challenges inherent in serving safe, nutritious food to kids on a tight budget and with limited equipment. Three references, of many available on the web, are provided below.

• Ask about the existing food service program. Is it self-operated or managed by a food service company? Does it belong to the statewide school food purchasing cooperative? Are staff registered for upcoming Great Trays workshops? What are some recent successes? What are some persistent challenges?

• Ask how health care professionals might assist staff to address challenges. Is there a wellness or food services advisory committee to join? Are there opportunities to present information to the School Board about nutrition-related health issues that could be addressed at school?

Additional References

• www.health.state.mn.us/schools/greattrays/
  
  
• School Meals: Building Blocks for Healthy Children
  Institute of Medicine, Food and Nutrition Board
  October 20, 2009
  
  The National School Lunch Program and the School Breakfast Program play key roles in supporting the nutrition and health of schoolchildren in the United States by providing nutritionally balanced, low-cost or free lunches each school day. While school meals must meet standards established in 1995, advances have been made in dietary guidance in the years since. At the request of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), the Institute of Medicine convened a committee to provide recommendations to revise standards and requirements so that school meals are more healthful.
  
  
• The National School Lunch Program Background, Trends, and Issues
  Katherine Ralston, Constance Newman, Annette Clauson, Joanne Guthrie, and Jean Buzby
  Economic Research Report No. (ERR-61) 56 pp, July 2008
  
  Most issues related to the NSLP touch upon, in one way or another, two, if not all three, components of a school meal “trilemma” involving the meal’s nutrition, program cost, and student participation in the program. Improving the nutritional quality of school meals and competitive foods is a goal of many NSLP stakeholders, including schools, parents, the nutrition community, FNS, and Congress. Meeting this goal may raise program costs for parents, localities, or the federal government.
  
  
• State Strategies to Help Schools Make the Most of their National School Lunch Program
  National Governors Association
  January 11, 2010
  
  State Strategies to Help Schools Make the Most of their National School Lunch Program explores three key challenges states face with respect to the National School Lunch Program (NSLP), including: improving the quality of meal offerings; increasing NSLP enrollment rates; and making the most of limited NSLP funds. The brief provides concrete ways for states to address these challenges, such as: strengthening nutrition standards; providing food preparation and menu planning training to food service personnel; facilitating the use of electronic payment systems; and utilizing "cooperative agreements" for food purchasing.