School meals served with less sugar, salt

Breakfast and lunch meals consumed by students in public schools today are steadfastly being served with less sugar and salt, according to the Public School System Food and Nutrition Services.

Mandated by the US Department of Agriculture to comply with federally-accepted nutrition standards, FNS has tried to trim down on sucrose and sodium chloride in efforts to promote a healthy diet for growing school kids.

“We try to stay away from salt and sweets. We only serve 100 percent juice concentrates since fruit beverages that are over 30 percent sugar are not nutritious anymore,” said Acting Food Services Administrator Greg Sablan in an interview yesterday.

Furthermore, PSS has entirely banned the use of canned and processed foods as ingredients to its breakfast and lunch meals. Instead, it has turned to no less than fresh or frozen food products for its four-week cycle menus designed by a certified nutritionist.

Under the school system’s four-week cycle menu for school year 2000-2001, close to 10,000 students participating under the federal breakfast and lunch program are served with foods ranging from pancakes with syrup, peanut butter and jelly sandwich, hard boiled eggs, corn and egg soup, beef curry with vegetables, fried chicken, yaki soba, to name few, supplemented with a one-half pint of milk.

FNS through designated commercial caterers serve the meals Monday through Friday in adherence to the USDA minimum serving chart.

US mainland school meals are also getting leaner and more nutritious in that fat, cholesterol, and sodium-infested foods are slowly being discarded and substituted with fruits and vegetables, according to news reports.

Stateside students are reportedly consuming foods with lower fat content as a result of altered breakfast and lunch menus and improved methods of food preparation.

In addition to this, mainland schools have also started offering varied fresh fruit choices that kids enjoy such as strawberries, melons and even fresh kiwis.

President of the American School Food Service Association Marilyn Hurt was quoted by national news reports as saying, “What we’ve really been focusing on for the last six years is to enhance our school meals so that they do offer nutrient-dense foods that will benefit our children.”

Meanwhile, PSS is still in search for its very own nutritionist who will be tasked to make more informed food and nutrition decisions in behalf of the school system’s thousands of meal consumers.

This key position within PSS has been vacant for over two years now. At present, FNS taps expert assistance from the Northern Marianas College’s resident nutritionist.

To attract more applicants, PSS has even opened the position to both local and off-island experts who would take the lead in eliminating low-value foods or junk foods in schools.

The nutritionist will also be responsible for designing the monthly menus.