December 30, 2009 – As part of an ongoing series on school meals, USA Today’s latest story reports on steps the federal government should take to further improve school food safety. “Schools could learn lessons on food safety” focuses on purchasing and testing standards for USDA’s Commodity Programs.
Through strict food safety procedures and employee training, school nutrition programs maintain an excellent food safety record. The School Nutrition Association has called on the federal government to improve its procedures to provide timely and accurate notifications to schools when they identify a food safety threat.
SNA President Dora Rivas, MS, RD, SNS, executive director of Food and Child Nutrition Services for the Dallas Independent School District in Texas, provided a quote to USA Today saying, “Federal officials must do more to notify schools when they identify food safety hazards. (The USDA and the FDA should) strengthen recall and food safety communications and bring this system into the digital age.”
Below are talking points on this issue and on how school nutrition programs maintain superior food safety records:
The School Nutrition Association and its 55,000 members believe that food safety is paramount. We support strong food safety standards and the effective enforcement of those standards. Our members care for the children they serve, and through strict food safety procedures and staff training, school nutrition professionals maintain a superior safety record while providing nutritious meals to millions of children each day.
• Just like any parent buying food at a grocery store or a restaurant, schools rely on the federal government to inspect and certify the safety of the foods they purchase and to provide timely and accurate notifications when there is a food safety threat.
• The School Nutrition Association has made recommendations to improve communication with states and school nutrition programs, and to enhance recall systems.
o At a March 2008 briefing before the House of Representatives Education and Labor Committee, former SNA President Mary Hill testified on the critical need for updates to USDA’s recall communication system between the Food and Nutrition Service, states and schools that have received potentially tainted products. Hill called for additional training, guidance and funds to assist schools in responding to recalls.o SNA has made improvements to the recall system a priority issue in discussions with Congress on the reauthorization of the Child Nutrition Act.
STAFF FOOD SAFETY TRAINING• Food safety training for school foodservice staff is often required by state, local or school district mandate, and organizations such as School Nutrition Association (SNA) offer food-safety certifications and specialized training.
o SNA alone has certified over 23,500 school nutrition professionals in food safety and sanitation.
• According to the CDC’s 2006 School Health Policies and Programs Study, nearly 87% of school foodservice staff received basic food safety training before they were allowed to prepare or serve food, and in over in 82% of schools, a certified food safety manager was present while food was being prepared and served.
• As part of the upcoming Child Nutrition Reauthorization, SNA supports establishing professional standards for those working in school foodservice, including food safety training for all employees.
HACCP PRINCIPLES• Since the 2004 Child Nutrition Reauthorization, schools have implemented food safety programs based on national HACCP (Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point) principles to identify and eliminate school food safety hazards at every step - from purchasing and receiving, to storing, preparing and holding.
• Just a few of the multitude of HACCP prevention steps are:
o Taking at least two internal temperatures from each batch of food being cookedo Maintaining records of cooking, cooling, and reheating temperatures in the food preparation process – the basis for periodic reviews of the overall food safety programo Prechilling all salad ingredients to help maintain cold food temperatureso Preheating transfer carts before food is transported
AN EXCELLENT FOOD SAFETY RECORD• Even prior to the adoption of strict HACCP principles, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) data indicates school nutrition programs across the country maintain exceptional food safety records.
o In fact, the CDC’s most recent Surveillance for Foodborne-Disease Outbreaks showed that only 4 percent of outbreaks were caused by food consumed at school, whereas food prepared at home caused 20 percent of the outbreaks and restaurant fare caused 50 percent of outbreaks.
December 14, 2009 -- Online Registration is now open for SNA’s 2010 Legislative Action Conference (LAC), which will take place February 28–March 3, 2010, at the JW Marriott Hotel, in the heart of the nation’s capital. Considered the premier legislative meeting on child nutrition issues, LAC affords you the unique opportunity to hear from Washington insiders and learn more about the issues that shape and define national policy related to school nutrition. You also will have the chance to visit Capitol Hill, where you can let elected legislators of the U.S. Congress know your priorities as a school nutrition expert. Other program highlights for 2010 will include:
The keynote speaker for LAC 2010 is Amy Walter, one of the nation’s top political forecasters. As editor-in-chief of The Hotline, the coveted daily news service that no political enthusiast can go without, Walter is the publication’s primary voice. She is widely known for giving frank yet genial interviews, which have gained her much airtime on the national television news circuit, and she has been frequently quoted as a congressional election expert in newspapers such as The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post and The New York Times.SNA needs your help in the pursuit of congressional support for important legislative priorities, especially the Child Nutrition and WIC Reauthorization Act. So bring your expertise, your passion and your stories to Washington and help us be heard! To learn more about LAC, stay tuned to www.schoolnutrition.org/lac. The special Early Bird registration rate closes January 15, 2010, so don’t delay—register today!
LAC 2010
Update: Talking Points on USDA and School Meal Safety (doc)
Update: Talking Points on the Quality of USDA Commodity Foods (pdf)
NATIONAL HARBOR, Md., December 9, 2009 – The School Nutrition Association strongly supports the US Department of Agriculture’s efforts to further improve the safety of food provided to the National School Lunch and Breakfast Programs.
“As president of the School Nutrition Association, I know that school nutrition professionals work hard every day to ensure that the food served to students is safe,” said Dora Rivas, MS, RD, SNS, executive director of Food and Child Nutrition Services for the Dallas Independent School District in Texas. “We wholeheartedly endorse the US Department of Agriculture’s efforts to review testing standards and look forward to partnering with the Department as they take the lead in evaluating safety standards.”
Through stringent food safety standards, professional training and federal advocacy, the School Nutrition Association and its members are focused on protecting the health of America’s school children.
Under the 2004 Child Nutrition Reauthorization, schools were required to implement food safety programs based on national HACCP (Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point) principals. This system is designed to identify and eliminate foodbourne hazards through every step of meal preparation, including the use of proper cooking and holding temperatures to ensure food served to students is safe. In fact, many school districts have eliminated the use of raw meats and use pre-cooked meats to curtail foodborne illnesses.
Food safety training for school nutrition professionals is often required by state, local or school district mandate, and organizations such as SNA offer food-safety certifications and specialized training. SNA is pushing for national professional standards for those working in school foodservice as a part of the upcoming Child Nutrition Reauthorization.
Food safety breeches can occur anywhere – including in local grocery stores and restaurants – but school food safety policies have helped school nutrition professionals to maintain a superior food safety record.
USA Today reports on school food safety
Talking Points on Food Safety in the School Nutrition Programs
December 8, 2009 - School breakfast participation continues to rise, according to two reports issued by the Food Research and Action Center (FRAC) yesterday. According to FRAC’s School Breakfast Scorecard, 6.2 percent more children participated in the School Breakfast Program, bringing total participation in the school nutrition programs to 18.9 million children. FRAC also released another report that looks at school breakfast promotion and participation in 25 large urban school districts.
The School Breakfast Program began as a pilot program in 1966 with the intent of making sure children started the school day with the boost breakfast can give. School breakfast is available to children from all socio-economic backgrounds. Studies continue to demonstrate the links between breakfast and learning, making the case stronger for more schools to expand breakfast participation and make sure all children participate. In the 2008-2009 school year, 46.7 low income children ate school breakfast for every 100 children who ate school lunch.
To measure the reach of the School Breakfast Program in each state, FRAC compares the number of schools and low-income that participate in the breakfast program as compared to the broadly utilized National School Lunch Program. In the 2008-2009 school year, 86.3 percent of schools offering lunch offered breakfast as well. This is a slight increase from 85.7 percent last year. One of the barriers to offering the breakfast program at the local level continues to be the cost to prepare a school breakfast – which is greater than ‘per meal’ federal reimbursement provided to school districts participating in the School Breakfast Program.
This year, FRAC also released a report examining school breakfast participation in 25 major cities. In School Breakfast in America’s Big Cities, FRAC found that 17 of the 25 surveyed districts increased the percentage of low-income students eating breakfast each day. FRAC’s analysis also found that school districts that offered universal breakfast, served breakfast in the classroom, or offered bagged “grab and go” breakfasts had higher participation.
SNA has tools available to help school nutrition programs expand breakfast. National School Breakfast Week (March 8-12, 2010) is just around the corner and this year's campaign ‘School Breakfast – Ready Set Go!’ will introduce students to the importance of school breakfast and will demonstrate how eating school breakfast sets you up for a busy day at school. The “Ready Set Go!” theme will also help students learn about the importance of eating healthy and being active. Find out more at www.schoolnutrition.org/nsbw
School breakfast provides at least one-fourth of the nutrients needed by a growing child. The U.S. Department of Agriculture sets the nutrient standards for the federal School Breakfast Program, requiring breakfasts provide less than 30 percent of their calories from fat, and 10 percent or less from saturated fat, meeting the goals of the Dietary Guidelines for Americans. Research shows that children who eat breakfast have improved memory, problem-solving skills, verbal fluency and creative abilities. Qualitative research, including research from Harvard University and the University of Minnesota, also points to improved classroom behavior, with students being more alert, happier and ready to learn. Both studies saw an increase in math test scores in children who ate a good breakfast.
School Breakfast Scorecard 2008-2009
School Breakfast in America's Big Cities
December 4, 2009 -- As part of National School Lunch Week 2009 and the basketball themed All-Star School Lunch campaign, SNA gave students the opportunity to draft and name their very own All-Star School Lunch Team, while explaining why their team is healthy.
SNA is now proud to announce the four national winners of the Draft Your All-Star School Lunch Team Contest:
Fresh n' Crunchy
Dunk for Nutrition
Healthy Lunch Bunch
The Yum Squad
All four students were very excited to learn they had won and will be receiving a NBA prize pack which includes a basketball signed by Dwight Howard!
The winning entries can be viewed in full at www.allstarschoollunch.org
Thank You SNA received hundreds of cool and healthy entries to the national portion of the Draft Your All-Star School Lunch contest and would like to thank everybody for taking part. We hope your National School Lunch Week 2009 was a slam-dunk!
We would also like to thank MilkPEP for helping make the All-Star School Lunch Campaign possible.
December 3, 2009—As important as it is for school nutrition professionals to be aware of the challenges in feeding children in the United States, in today’s global society, it is also essential to remain up-to-date on the challenges inherent in feeding children in other countries. The December issue of School Nutrition, SNA’s award-winning flagship publication, explores global child feeding efforts, as well as how U.S. school nutrition professionals are getting involved.
“As the World Turns” takes a look at the work of the Global Child Nutrition Foundation (GCNF). From the Global Child Nutrition Forum to the School Feeding Toolkit to needs assessment efforts, GCNF aims to make a difference for children throughout the world.
While the logistics of school feeding programs in various countries may differ because of geographic, political and other factors, the programs are united in a common mission by the desire to ensure that children do not go hungry. In “Site Seeing,” learn about the school feeding efforts in four countries across the globe.
Speaking of “across the globe,” read about the adventures and impressions of an SNA member who has organized cultural education excursions for school nutrition professionals to countries throughout the world in “To Boldly Go...”
School Nutrition – December 2009
December 2, 2009 – Today’s issue of USA Today featured the second story in an investigative series on food safety in school meals. “Why a recall of tainted beef didn't include school lunches” reports on the US Department of Agriculture’s policies for recalling potentially tainted foods supplied to school meals programs.
A corresponding article, “Family's nightmare began with secondary infection,” told the story of a girl who was sickened during an E. coli outbreak associated with undercooked beef served in a local school. The incident occurred in 1998, prior to the implementation of national HACCP (Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point) principles – a system designed to identify and eliminate foodbourne hazards through every step of foodservice operations.
Through stringent food safety standards on professional training and food preparation procedures, as well as federal advocacy, the School Nutrition Association and its members are focused on protecting the health of America’s school children.
Please visit the link below for talking points on how school nutrition programs maintain superior food safety records, and how SNA has called on the federal government to improve its procedures to provide timely and accurate notifications to schools when they identify a food safety threat.
December 2, 2009—Betty Harney, who served as SNA President in 1979-80, passed away Nov. 14, 2009, at age 86. Harney, who took a job running a kitchen at the Colorado State Hospital after completing her dietetic internship at Texas Woman’s University as part of her college studies, became director of food services for Pueblo (Colo.) Public Schools. She remained in that role for 27 years and became active in what was then the American School Food Service Association (ASFSA). Harney was elected state president for Colorado and then regional president before becoming national president.
During Harney’s presidency, “Justification for and credibility of child-feeding programs were not necessarily supported by the administration, the Congress and the media…For the first time in 34 years, USDA was advocating that child nutrition programs were not for all children—only needy children,” she recalled in A Pinch of Love (The History of the American School Food Service Association). The book was published by ASFSA in 1990.
Another major topic during Harney’s presidential year, she said, was conflict within the Association regarding the differing viewpoints of the industry’s lobbyists on the cash vs. commodities issue. Despite this tension and budget concerns faced by the Association, other positive events took place during Harney’s leadership year. Among them, legislative conferences were held in 36 states, and Marshall Matz, partner at Olsson, Frank, Weeda, Terman, Bode, Matz, PC, Attorneys at Law, was selected as ASFSA’s Washington consultant. Matz continues to work on SNA’s behalf today.
In addition to her SNA work, Harney enjoyed travel and moved to Alaska in 2002 after visiting the state many times, especially during Iditarod races. She is survived by her daughter, grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
In lieu of flowers, Harney’s family requests that friends and colleagues make donations to SNA’s School Nutrition Foundation. For more information, please visit the Foundation website.
Betty Harney Obituary
Donate to the School Nutrition Foundation
December 1, 2009 -- Your district, like many others, is likely looking for ways to reduce costs and to ensure that the money it spends to meet students’ needs goes as far as possible. But professional development is important, too, and the 2010 Child Nutrition Industry Conference (CNIC) in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida promises to be one of the best educational and networking events you can attend. The perfect mix of these two takeaways is likely to get you the maximum bang for your buck…and if you register by this Friday, December 4th, you will save $40 ($110 for industry members) off your registration fees! Talk about getting the most out of your education dollar!
CNIC 2010 highlights include:
With so much to do, see and learn, you are guaranteed to score a solid return on investment for the time you spend at CNIC. Don't miss out—register today!
CNIC 2010
Register for CNIC