Webinar Wednesday in April: Managing Food Safety When Handling Fresh Produce in Schools

Our popular Webinar Wednesday series continues on April 18, 2012 with a webinar dedicated to the topic of food safety. “Managing Food Safety When Handling Fresh Produce in Schools” is offered by the School Nutrition Foundation in partnership with the United States Department of Agriculture’s Food and Nutrition Service’s Office of Food Safety. This webinar…

Webinar Wednesday Spring 2012 Schedule

As we know the USDA recently announced the highly-anticipated changes to the school meal patterns, and many of you participated in our webinar on the topic, “The New School Meal Patterns: What You Need to Know.” We discussed the final regulations, and how the new standards differ from current requirements, with moderator Cindy Brooks, Chair…

On the Calendar: Webinar Wednesdays in January 2012

Mark your calendar for Wednesday January 11, and register online now for the next in the School Nutrition Foundation’s Webinar Wednesday series titled “The New School Meal Patterns: What You Need to Know.” The webinar is tentatively scheduled for January 11, pending final publication of the regulation. This School Nutrition Foundation webinar is being held…

Beyond the Headlines: Proposed Meal Pattern, Nutrition Standards in Schools

The proposed meal patterns made prominent headlines in November, as Congress considered the now-famous “pizza-as-a-vegetable” question. There was hardly a media outlet that didn’t turn the spotlight, at least briefly, to the questions surrounding the proposed meal patterns and the role Congress should play in the regulatory processes of developing nutrition standards for school meals.…

Meal Patterns: Information & Resources

Last summer we brought you information about meal patterns from the Annual National Conference in Nashville. At the conference we held sessions for school nutrition professionals, where the discussion centered around the USDA-proposed meal pattern changes that are on the horizon for school meals. We wanted to follow up with some additional information for our…

New Meal Pattern Changes: What do they mean?

You can review the full text of the USDA child nutrition meal pattern changes. For additional information, you can also view this slideshow from USDA Food and Nutrition Service Child Nutrition Division. SNF held three listening sessions while in Nashville for ANC 2011. Sponsored by the National Dairy Council, these sessions were dedicated to discussion…

Ed Bruske on Breakfast in the Classroom

Today’s guest post was written by Ed Bruske, a.k.a The Slow Cook. Washington Post reporter-turned-food appreciation champion, Ed now works as a chef for clients with special needs. Ed also brings his message of food appreciation to students after school at Georgetown Day School. I met Ed at LAC 2011 but I have been reading…

Goodbye, Food Pyramid … Hello, MyPlate!

Last week we said goodbye to the food pyramid—our pictorial guideline for nutrition for almost 20 years—and said hello to MyPlate, our new visual guide for healthy eating. Introduced by first lady Michelle Obama, USDA Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack and Surgeon General Regina Benjamin the new 2011 food guide was unveiled at a press…