Our thoughts turn to warm events and warm foods on these cold days. While some feel that we have to give up comfort foods, remember that all foods can fit in balance. Believe we’ll be seeing some changes with the new dietary guidelines as mentioned elsewhere in the bulletin. Stay tuned! We’ll pass on what we know for sure … as soon as we’re sure we know it! Had the opportunity to attend the SNA Child Nutrition Industry Conference this past week. You can about guess the main topics….obesity, vending, and contracts! I have more pens now than I’ll be able to use in my lifetime. One of the industry break-out sessions gave a demo of their new cooking system. The most unique food item was a sweet potato/raisin cookie pressed out in the shape of Texas with their nutrition logo stamped on the front…they actually use those in one of the school districts. Of course, that one district has half as many students as we have in the whole state! Other food items were fish-and shell-shaped fish nuggets, fresh fruit in a bag, more flavors of milk, and ideas for healthier vending choices. The last speaker reminded us to keep our lives in balance. We’re pleased to continue our certification institute in Sioux Falls with facilities on the Augustana College campus and Sioux Falls School District. Mark your calendar now for June 19- 24. Work with reauthorization requirements continues…Janelle has been working with the food safety requirements, ideas are coming from all areas for the wellness policies, Melissa is working the CACFP requirements from that and even more so from the recently released interim regulation. Amy is busy with the Team Nutrition grants and Cassandra is planning Summer Food Service. Marlyce and Jean continue to work with school nutrition programs while Elaine is starting to make plans for food to order for the coming year as she learns responsibilities of her position. By the way, we are very pleased that she came out of retirement to re-join the CANS staff to manage the food distribution programs. Wishing you a happy Valentine’s Day – remember it is heart health month! For your heart and for your soul, let those whom you care about know that. March 1, 2005, is the deadline to submit Verification Report 742SD. New policy beginning in school year 2005 requires all schools to submit a summary of the verification results for the National School Lunch Program to CANS. The report form was mailed out to all school food authorities on October 29, 2004, in NSLP Memo #51.1. The memo can also be downloaded from the following website www.state.sd.us/deca/CSCF/CANS/Forms/index.htm. The new policy requires school food authorities (SFAs) to report their verification activity and results to their respective State agencies. Additionally, beginning in school year 2004-05, State agencies must report the SFA level data to the federal Food and Nutrition Services (FNS). Submission of this data on a SFA basis will enable State agencies and FNS to better understand certification errors and to improve oversight and technical assistance activities. This will help ensure that free and reduced price subsidized meals are provided only to eligible children. National Nutrition Month and School Breakfast Week
This year’s theme for National School Breakfast Week (NSBW) is “School Breakfast: Great Performances” provides the perfect opportunity for you to convince teachers, the administration, parents and students of the links between breakfast and your customers’ health, happiness and academic performance. Research has shown that kids who eat breakfast pay more attention in class, show improved behavior, are less likely to be absent, increase their nutrient intake and perform better on standardized tests. Morning meals are key to success in all of a student’s many activities throughout the day. If you are an SFA that does not offer school breakfast, March is an excellent opportunity to pilot a breakfast program during the month to test the idea in your schools. Be watching for the arrival of an activity packet from CANS to be mailed out the first part of February. The packet is designed with the purpose of letting the food service staff share the information with appropriate faculty so the information and activity sheets can be duplicated for classroom and/or cafeteria use. The packet will also contain various posters that can be displayed in the school cafeterias or classrooms.
For more information about the dietary guidelines please go to the following website: http://www.healthierus.gov/dietaryguidelines/. The executive summary gives a good overview of changes to the guidelines. You may be wondering how this will impact requirements for the school lunch program. At the time of this writing, we haven’t been notified of any changes. We will keep you posted as we learn more. If you have questions about nutrition and the dietary guidelines, please contact us at Child and Adult Nutrition Services. Guidelines and Sample Policies for New Wellness Requirement
In order to encourage schools to create a healthier nutrition environment, the US Department of Agriculture’s Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) has initiated the HealthierUS School Challenge. Schools can be certified as either silver or gold schools. Schools must meet a basic set of criteria. To be certified, a school must:
FNS will review all completed Assessment Tools and award schools that successfully meet the Challenge with an appropriate recognition plaque. In addition, the recognized schools will be listed on the Team Nutrition Web site, may be chosen to be a part of special FNS media events and may receive other awards that promote and support the principles of the Challenge. For more information, please visit the TEAM nutrition webpage at http://www.fns.usda.gov/tn/ and click on HealthierUS School Challenge or contact Child and Adult Nutrition Services and talk to Amy Richards, MS, RD, LN, Child Nutrition Program Specialist at 605-773-4718 or send an email to amy.richards@state.sd.us. Featured Website: Medline Plus Check it out for the latest news about nutrition and to learn about food allergies. Want to know more about food allergies and food intolerances? Want to keep up with nutrition stories and headlines in the news? Medline Plus is a good website from the National Library of Medicine and the National Institute of Health that covers lots of health topics including food allergies and intolerances and it is written in a manner that is easy to read and understand. The website also covers the latest nutrition stories in the news. The web address of Medline Plus is: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ The direct link to nutrition news from Medline Plus is: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/nutrition.html. The direct link for food allergy information is: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/foodallergy.html.
Recently you were sent a Planned Usage Request to be filled in and returned to Child and Adult Nutrition Services. The reason this was sent was so I, who am new to the commodity ordering process, could get an idea of the items and how much of each item the schools would use in the next year. It was to be a guide for the ordering process and I greatly appreciate your input. Each school is given an entitlement dollar to spend each year and I asked that you use this entitlement for the current year as your guide as to how much you could order. I wish we could order unlimited quantities but the state has an entitlement it must stay within as well. I have to have these orders in now so food will be shipped in Aug/Sept for the beginning of the school year. Thanks to everyone who took the time to complete this. I appreciate your patience and value your input as we work together to make Child Nutrition Program a healthy choice for students. ELAINE SCOTT NEW COMMODITY PROGRAM SPECIALIST Elaine Scott is our newest program specialist in CANS. Many of you know and have worked with Elaine over the years and know she recently retired and then decided to accept the position of Commodity Program Specialist. Elaine brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to this position. Elaine is a native of the Pierre/Ft. Pierre area and has raised nine children, most of who still live in the area. She is blessed with 22 grandchildren and 5 great grandchildren. She is very involved in her church as well as the lives of her grandchildren and great grandchildren. We are so glad to have her back. Be sure to contact Elaine by e-mail at Elaine.Scott@state.sd.us or phone 605-773-4769 for any of your commodity questions. National teleconference on School Wellness Requirements - February 17, 2005 To learn more about the new wellness policies that will be required of agencies that participate in the school lunch program in the school year 2006-2007, there is a teleconference session on February 17, 2005 that you can listen to from the American Dietetic Association that was planned in partnership with the School Nutrition Association. To learn more, please visit the following website: http://www.eatright.org/Member/ProfessionalDevelopment/100_20670.cfm.
Certification Institute 2005 - June 19-24, 2005
Workshop at National Food Service Institute for
new Food Service Directors -
SCHOLARSHIPS AVAILABLE FOR SCHOOL FOOD SERVICE PERSONNEL For over 18 years, the Child Nutrition Foundation has been raising funds to provide School Nutrition Association (formerly American School Food Service Association) members with the opportunity to explore higher education options with the help of financial assistance. Increasing education costs, along with the growing demand for school foodservice personnel, remain the driving force behind the Foundation’s commitment to helping members and their dependents realize their academic dreams. GED Jump
Start Scholarship Nancy Curry
Scholarship Schwan’s Food
Service Scholarship CNF
Professional Growth Scholarship For more information on these scholarships and other professional development opportunities go to http://www.asfsa.org/continuinged/ and click on academic assistance. Mark your Calendars for these UPCOMING MEETINGS, TRAINING, AND EVENTS
Fruit Bowl
Snack Idea (1-5 year olds):
Locomotor Skills
Locomotor skills are walking, running, jumping, hopping, galloping, sliding and skipping. Hopping is a jump taking off from one foot and landing on that foot. In galloping the same food it always in the front (leading). Skipping is step-hop, step-hop. Have children move around the area using each skill. Emphasize moving under control, so children don’t fall or bump into each other. Begin with walking, then progress to running, jumping and so forth. The skills listed become progressively more difficult. You may have to help by holding a child’s hand hopping or demonstrating and practicing sliding, galloping or skipping. Children begin these skills at the following ages: walk (12 mo.), run, hop & jump (24 mo.), gallop, slide & skip (36 mo.). |
March is
just around the corner which means it is time to be making plans on how your
school can promote the 
New Dietary
Guidelines were issued by USDA and the Department of Health last week. A new
picture of the guidelines to replace the food guide pyramid will be released in
the next couple of months. Changes include an increase in the amount of fruits
and vegetables that should be consumed and an emphasis on eating whole grains.
The new recommendations state that at least half of grains consumed should be
whole grains and that both trans fat and saturated fat should be avoided. Also
the guidelines suggest that children and adolescents should get at least 60
minutes of physical activity most days if not all days of the week. 
A new law will
go into effect for the school year 2006-2007 that requires each local education
agency that participates in USDA meal programs to have a wellness policy. USDA
has put information, guidelines, sample policies and resources on the TEAM
nutrition website to help schools and agencies prepare for this requirement. To
access this helpful information, please visit:
As we have
been talking about the last few months, the recent
The annual
training put on by Child and Adult Nutrition Services for South Dakota food
service personnel that participate in Child Nutrition programs will be offered
during the week of June 19- 24, 2005 in Sioux Falls at Augustana College.
Participants will receive a certificate of completion after successfully
completing 30 hours of training in one of five tracks. Food service personnel
are not required to attend Certification Institute, but it is strongly
encouraged as nutrition staff learn skills that improve their ability to do
their job and understand school nutrition. More information will be coming in
the next couple of months about how to register, cost for participants and
specifics about what will be offered in each track. 
A 5 day seminar
will be offered for new and aspiring Food Service Directors at the National Food
Service Institute in Mississippi. Cost of the seminar is $150.00 and it is
approved for continuing education credit and will provide customer-focused and
cost effective management topics including record keeping, menu planning,
promoting healthy eating, purchasing, and staff management. For more
information please visit the following website:
Fruit is just
about the perfect snack. A variety of cubed or sliced fruit mixed with a little
flavored yogurt is a year-round favorite. Mix canned and fresh fruit. Summer
fruit bowls can emphasize fruits rich in vitamin A, like fresh apricots,
cantaloupe, melon, peaches, papaya, and mango. Winter fruit bowls can emphasize
citrus fruits, like oranges, grapefruit and tangerines, which are readily
available during colder months. Other fruit available in the winter months
include kiwi, apples, bananas, and grapes.
Arrange the
children in scatter formation so all children can see you.