Articles in the February 2006 Issue

From Sandra’s Desk:

Many things have been happening and will be happening in the CANS office and in the local agencies we work with.

Training for Child and Adult Care Food Program is coming soon to a location near you for "The Basics".  The announcement has been mailed.

Individual topic training will soon be available for CACFP through a series of brochures.  This can be used for new employee or as a refresher training course.

Summer Food Service and Seamless Summer information will be in the mail soon.  It's time to think about if the agency will offer summer meals and who will be responsible to do that.  It's a good way to provide meals to students where summer school is offered or where there is a need for meals throughout the summer. While Seamless Summer is available only to schools, the Summer Food Service Program is open to faith-based organizations, community organizations, schools, and other public or private non profit groups. 

Wellness Policies are in process in varying degrees in the schools.  Good questions have been asked, a few have asked for some input on their policy, and some policies have been passed already while others are just getting started.  There is still adequate time to get this completed by June 30 or first day of school after that.  The wellness policy is a requirement for all school food authorities that participate in the National School Lunch Program and for schools that participate only in the Special Milk Program. 

This includes public, private, and government schools as well as residential child care institutions and special education schools that are on the programs. Wellness Policies are raising concerns and issues including adding breakfast, adding snack after school, taking a look at vending, raising community awareness, taking a look at what else is sold at school.  Thanks to all who are working on the wellness policies. 

Nutrition grants were awarded to 21 agencies in a partnership of funds and efforts from Coordinated School Health and Team Nutrition. Congratulations to the programs!

Food Safety plans are in progress.  This is often referred to as the HACCP plan (pronounced has' sup, rhymes with pass up).  It's an abbreviation for Hazard Analysis Critical Control Points.  As will wellness policies, some are near completion and some are starting.  Inspectors may be looking at pieces of the plan this year but they are not basing any inspection points on whether it is in place or not. 

Nutrient Analysis for school lunches is coming along.  We are in process to contract with a company to bring us up to speed on those and will work with them as needed to complete the work annually along with the CRE.  We have run into several stumbling blocks as several previous individual contract attempts failed. More information will come out later as this is completed.

School Breakfast Week packets have been mailed - time to start planning for efforts for that and for Nutrition Month.

School reviews through CRE and health inspections are in progress.  Results of inspections that have come in so far are quite good.  While that is no surprise to us, it is a good way to brag up your program locally as you post the scores as required. 

Commodities continue to be available.  Ground beef is in good supply for the rest of the year and you can order as needed rather than following the ground beef rate guide on the order blank.  Elaine and Sandra met with folks at Dizco and Nordica in January.  Dizco has taken some steps to be better able to meet the delivery schedule and folks at Nordica will continue to communicate with the schools for delivery.  We appreciate the efforts of these two agencies.  A survey of foods for the coming year will be coming out soon.  This is not a commitment that USDA will have the product on hand nor a commitment from the school to order the product - it is just a survey to get an idea of what to order for the coming year.

Media stories on nutrition programs have appeared in several places and most have had a positive reflection on the programs and the efforts schools are making in regard to the wellness programs.  Make sure they hear the good news to brag up the program and because we all need to read good news.

Certification Institute will be here before we know it.  Has the school established certification as a standard for the food service?  Institute will be in Sioux Falls June 18 - 23.

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Celebrate School Breakfast Week in March

March is National Nutrition Month and gets kicked off with National School Breakfast Week to be observed March 6-10, 2006. The department’s Office of Child and Adult Nutrition Services (CANS) encourages food service directors to work with teaching staff to plan activities that promote the importance of the breakfast meal, whether it is eaten at home or school.   

This year’s theme for National School Breakfast Week (NSBW) is “Go Places With School Breakfast”.  The theme offers a great opportunity to show students how eating a healthy breakfast every morning will lead them to a terrific future that is filled with promise and adventure.  Testimonies from students who start their day with breakfast say they feel good, are happy, and more alert throughout their school day.

A Nutrition Month Packet has been prepared and will be mailed to all school food authorities the last week of January.  The packet contains information and activity sheets that can be duplicated for classroom use to promote awareness of the benefits of breakfast celebrated in National Nutrition Month.  The packet also contains information on how a school can amend their agreement to add a breakfast program.

As many schools set their goals for school wellness they have made a community decision to add breakfast programs in their schools.  If your school would like more information about how to determine if a school breakfast program would be feasible in your district, please contact Marlyce Micklos at 605-773-3610.

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Verification Summary Report 742SD Due

March 1st is the deadline for school food authorities (SFAs) to submit their annual Verification Summary Report.  The 742SD form can be found on the last page of NSLP Memo #51.2.  The memo can be found on the CANS website http://doe.sd.gov/oess/cans/nslp/formsdocs.asp

All (SFAs) participating in the National School Lunch Program (NSLP) must report their verification activity and results to the state agency, Child and Adult Nutrition Services (CANS).  The state agency must report the SFA level data to the federal Food and Nutrition Services (FNS) in March.  The data collected enables the state agency and FNS to better understand certification errors and to improve oversight and technical assistance activities.  The goal is to ensure that free and reduced-price subsidized meals are provided only to eligible children. 

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Professional Development Opportunities

March 7-8, 2006 DDN Training Opportunities

A speaker provided by the National Food Service Institute will present on 3 topics via the Dakota Digital Network on March 7th and 8th.  The session on March 7th is called Getting It Started and Keeping It Going.  The sessions on March 8th include Team Building and Adult Learning Principles.  The sessions will start at 3:15 pm Central/4:15 Mountain time.  An announcement will be sent via email for schools to sign up to be a hosting site for the sessions.  CEUs will be applied for from SNA.  There will not be individual registration, however a certificate will be available on the CANS website for participants to print and type their name into it for attending.  More information will be posted on the CANS website and will be sent via email.

March 7th Getting It Started and Keeping It Going is a training that is good for both schools and childcare agencies that are new to Team Nutrition as well as for schools that are already active with Team Nutrition that would like to kick it up a notch as far as what they are doing.  Childhood Obesity is at an all time high and your school or childcare can play an important role in reversing this trend. 

Children who are overweight face social discrimination, which leads to poor self-esteem, which in turn hampers the child’s ability to succeed academically and professionally.  Long-term health consequences for overweight children include diabetes, heart disease and joint problems.  Schools and Childcare agencies can make a long-term difference in the health and success of the children they serve by the messages that they provide to students through the cafeteria, classrooms, hallways, fundraisers and before and after school programs.  Learn how your school can implement  Team Nutrition to help your students get off to the right start with nutrition and physical activity.  This session is geared toward all school staff as well as community members who might become part of your Team Nutrition Team.

March 8th Adult Learning Principles is intended for those who teach, train and supervise adult staff.  Suggested audience is food service directors, managers, administrators, authorized representatives, mentors and Certification Institute instructors.  Any others who are interested are welcome to attend.

March 8th Building an Effective Team  will teach team building strategies on  topics such as the “Recipe for an effective team”.   This session is intended for food Service staff, administrators, Team Nutrition team members including community members that are interested in working with the school’s Team Nutrition Team and childcare agency staff.   

Certification Institute 2006

Feeding the Future for a Healthy Tomorrow

June 18-23, 2006

Make plans to attend the annual Child Nutrition Certification Institute in Sioux Falls at Augustana College on June 18-23.  This is a great way for you and your staff to learn skills to make your program run at its very best. 

Track 5 this year will again be the Healthy Schools Track and will feature topics related to school wellness including strategies to address the childhood obesity epidemic.  Participants will design creative bulletin boards for display at Certification Institute as well as learn about other promotion, marketing and nutrition education ideas.  There will be time for participants to work on completing an application for the HealthierUS School Challenge as well as sharing tips on incorporating whole grains, dried beans and fresh fruits and vegetables.  Participants will are learn more about discretionary calories, nutrient dense foods and energy balance. 

Registration is planned to be online this year and a newsletter will be mailed in the first part of March giving information about the events of the week, registration details and topics covered in each track.

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Mini-grant Recipients from Team Nutrition and Coordinated School Health

Congratulations to the following schools and childcare sites, which were awarded mini-grant funds of up to $1000.00 for Nutrition and Physical Activity projects at their schools: 

  • Belle Fourche School District                                       

  • Bethesda Sharing Center, Aberdeen              

  • Corisca School District             

  • Flandreau Public School                                      

  • Howard School District                

  • Lower Brule Sioux High School

  • Madison Central School District

  • Madison Central-Washington Elementary                                   

  • Marty Indian School                            

  • Pierre Public Schools                           

  • Sanborn Central, Forestburg                            

  • SD Human Services Center, Yankton                

  • Sioux Falls Public Schools                        

  • Sioux YMCA, Dupree                                        

  • St. Mary Catholic Schools, Dell Rapids             

  • St. Mary’s Elementary School, Sioux Falls       

  • Tiger Post Community Center, Ipswich           

  • Wakonda Public School                       

  • Webster Public School            

  • Wessington Springs Elementary                    

  • Youth and Family Services, Rapid City 

Thanks to all who applied for a mini-grant for their school or childcare agency.  Unfortunately, we had to turn down many good applications, as we received 47 applications and were only able to fund 21 of them.  Please keep looking for funds for your projects and working to add local partners who can assist with costs of nutrition education and physical activity projects.  For more information about funding sources and tips for grant writing, visit our Team Nutrition webpage at http://doe.sd.gov/oess/cans/nutrition/index.asp and click on Helpful Hints for Getting Grants and on Available Grants.

PRODUCTION RECORD CHECKLIST

(National School Lunch and Breakfast Program)

Do your production records contain all necessary information?  Answer the following questions to see how you are doing.

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Is the menu and serving size recorded in the menu box?

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Is a production record available for each day meals and/or snacks are claimed for reimbursement?

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Is the school name, site name, and date, including the year, on each production record? 

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Are the numbers of participants served listed by established grade group for meals and snacks claimed?

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Are serving sizes and number of planned servings for each food item recorded for each grade group?

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Are serving sizes and number of planned second servings recorded?

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Are the serving sizes and number of planned servings recorded for adult and/or ala carte meals?

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Is the total number of planned servings recorded?

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Do menus contain foods contributing to all required meal and snack components and are these foods identified under the “Food Item” column?

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Are quantities of all foods contributing to meal pattern requirements listed under the “Total Quantity Planned” column? 

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Do quantities prepared meet the minimum amounts required for the number of participants served?

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Are condiments such as salad dressings, ketchup, mustard, margarine, etc. recorded under the “Food Item” column along with the serving size and number of planned servings per grade group?

The answer to all questions should be “Yes”.  This information needs to be documented to show that your meals met meal pattern and minimum quantity requirements.  All food items served each day must be recorded on the production record including milk and bread.  Sometimes these may unintentionally get omitted as they are available every day in the same quantities. The production record is your planning tool for documenting reimbursable meals served in order to receive reimbursement dollars. Make sure your production records contain all required information.  Incomplete production records which do not show all food items contributing to the meal pattern requirements and quantities prepared could result in overclaims being assessed.

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Menu Planning Practices for Healthy School Meals

Regardless of the menu planning approach you have chosen, certain steps will help you plan healthier meals.  The goal is to plan, prepare and serve healthy, nutritious meals that children will not only select but also consume.  Establishing lifelong eating habits is critical for children.  School meals can serve as an important learning laboratory for modeling the kinds of foods that children should choose each day.

The menu is the first step.  The menu is the driving force for all foodservice program activities— including the nutritional contribution.  The menu determines the nutrient content of the meal and the acceptability—the acceptability influences the participation rate.

The menu also provides an excellent opportunity for nutrition education.  The cafeteria can be a classroom link for nutrition education where children are provided the opportunity to learn to make healthy choices.

You already know that the meals must be planned to be in compliance with federal regulations and program requirements for them to be claimed for reimbursement.

  •  If you are planning your menus with one of the food based menu planning options, you will need to ensure that all required components and portion sizes are met.

  •  If you plan menus using one of the nutrient based menu planning options, you will need to ensure that the menus contain the menu items required and the nutrient content of the meals, when averaged over a school week, meet the nutrient standards for the age/grade groups being used.

Providing menu choices is important to allow students to select foods they like.  Choices help maintain high participation when planning menus, choices facilitate offering new foods for which children may not have learned to develop a preference.  Letting students “take a taste” of a new menu offering is the ideal way to introduce a wider variety of menu selections.  Offering choices at sites where Offer Versus Serve is in place encourages students to select foods they intend to eat.

The number of choices you offer in each category depends on your own food service operation.  Look for a balance in cost, nutrients, and equipment usage, as well as the labor and skills needed to prepare each item.

Consider the following “best practices” for your foodservice operation with the goal of meeting the School Meals Initiative (SMI) nutrition standards.

Increase the variety of entrees offered

        √  Plan more school prepared items

        √  Choose more low-fat, low sodium products

        √  Use low-fat cheeses, dairy products, and lower fat meats

        √  Explore the possibility of offering entrée salads or a salad bar

Where choices are not offered, limit processed meat/meat alternates that have not been modified to reduce fat and or sodium to once a week.

Plan at least one fresh fruit or vegetable on your menu each day                

              √      Increase the amounts and variety of fruits and vegetables offered

             √       Offer a vitamin A rich fruit or vegetable three to four times a week

             √       Plan a vitamin C rich fruit or vegetable three to four times  a week and include them frequently for breakfast

             √       Offer cup up fruit or dried fruit as a topping for yogurt

Plan at least one menu item containing a whole grain each day

             √       Plan a variety of breads and bread alternates such as whole wheat breads or rolls, multigrain breads or rolls, whole grain pasta, and brown rice or wild rice

             √       Increase the variety of cooked and ready-to-eat cereals offered at breakfast

Plan at least one serving of cooked dried beans or peas each week

             √       Offer more cooked dried beans and peas

             √       Explore the great variety available such as black beans, Great Northern beans, red kidney beans, lima beans, Navy beans, pinto beans, black-eyed peas, lentils, split peas, and garbanzo beans (also called chick peas), all of which can be offered in salad bars; as a vegetable such as Boston baked beans; made into soups; served as frijoles with Mexican food menu items; served as beans and rice; and red kidney beans or pinto beans can even be added to chili as part of the meat/meat alternate component.  Beans can be ground and added to chili if children find the whole beans unacceptable.

Offer as many healthy alternate choices as your operation allows

             √       In high schools, offer baked potatoes in addition to French fries

             √       Offer low-fat sour cream, low-fat or nonfat yogurt for a topping in place of sour cream

             √       Offer low-fat salad dressings in addition to regular salad dressing

Before placing new food products on your menus, obtain nutrition information about the item

             √       Check for type(s) and quantity of fat and the amounts of sodium and/or sugar in the item

Offer and promote unflavored skim milk or unflavored 1 percent milk at each meal

             √       If flavored milk, such as chocolate or strawberry milk is offered, use only 1 percent low-fat (or lower)

Source: Road to SMI Success

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HACCP Update

Upcoming training for Implementing a Food Safety Program:

Just a reminder!! The following DDN sessions have been scheduled:

February 21, 2006  3:00pm-5:00pm—this training is part of the School Lunch Program Professional Development Opportunities training that is being offered once a month in January, February, March & April.  The training offered during February is a session for agencies already working on implementing/developing a food safety program.  Participants will be able to ask specific questions to gain clarification as they are developing/implementing their food safety program.  Initial training on developing a food safety program will NOT be covered during this learning opportunity.  The session will consist of a question/answer format for those of you who are working on your plans and have questions. 

March 13, 2006 3:30pm-5:00pm—training will be two-fold.  The first part of the program will be food safety education.  The second half will be a question and answer period.  There is no cost for this and this is a one time training.  Sites that have been secured at this point are:  Mitchell, Aberdeen, Watertown, Vermillion, Brookings, Pierre, and Spearfish. 

April 10, 2006 3:30pm-5:00pm—training will follow the format of the March training.  Training will be in two parts.  The first portion of the training will be food safety education.  The second half will be a question and answer period.  There is no cost for this and this is a one time training.  Sites that have been secured at this point are:  Mitchell, Aberdeen, Watertown, Vermillion, Brookings, Pierre, and Spearfish. 

The training offered in March and April is separate from the training being offered in February.  The training in February is part of a 4 part series.  The training in March and April are one time only.  You can attend one or both (or none!).  None of the food safety training is mandatory.  However, if you are interested in attending mark this on your calendar now and more information will be coming soon.

The Child & Adult Nutrition website is a great resource for helping you implement and develop your food safety program.  Go to:  http://doe.sd.gov/oess/cans/index.asp.  Scroll down the page until you see the heading “Training and Technical Assistance”. Scroll down a little further until you see NEW! Food Safety Training Information.  Here you will find the USDA Guidance for Developing a Food Safety Plan (labeled as HACCP Principles), Sample SOPs, and various other links that you may find helpful. 

As a reminder, the deadline for Developing/Implementing a School Food Safety Program Based on the Process Approach to HACCP Principles is the end of the 05-06 school year.

If you have questions please don’t hesitate to call our office at 773-3413 or Janelle at 280-4278.

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Summer Food Service Administrative Training

Just as learning does not end when school lets out, neither does the need for good nutrition and good meals.  Children who aren’t hungry learn better, act better, and feel better.  School Districts, local government agencies, parks, churches, and non-profit organizations can sponsor the Summer Food Service Program to provide meals to hungry children in the summer.  Summer Food Service Training sessions will be conducted for sponsors of the SFSP the last part of March.  On March 24th there will be a DDN session for sponsors participating under the SFSP Seamless Summer Option from 8:00 am – 8:45 am (CST) and another session for experienced sponsors from 8:55 am – 10:45 am (CST).  The Session that will be held on March 28th in the State Library conference room will be for sponsors that are new to the program and do not plan to participate in the Seamless Summer Option.  The session will be held from 8:30 to 4:30 (CST).

Application/Agreement packets will be mailed out to all interested sponsors the first part of March.  Child and Adult Nutrition Services must receive a completed Agreement by April 10th to be considered for participation in this program.  This Agreement must also be approved before a sponsor can begin to serve meals at the sites.  We urge you to contribute to the health and well-being of the children in your community by sponsoring a Summer Food Service Program.  If you have further questions or need more information, contact Cassandra Pope at 773-3110 or e-mail at cassandra.pope@state.sd.us.

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New Resources to help Teach Nutrition 

New resources have been purchased with Team Nutrition funds to help schools and childcare agencies teach nutrition and physical activity.  

Several new books and a MyPyramid video have been purchased for the state library so that schools can borrow resources through their library system. 

An inflatable MyPyramid and a plastic 3-D MyPyramid model have been purchased and are available for schools and childcare sites to borrow from CANS for nutrition education lessons.  Other resources include a MyPyramid card game called Food Pyramid Party, Fast Food ScoreBoard, Portion Photos of Popular Foods and High-Fat, Low-Fat Choices Flip Chart.  To borrow any of these materials, please send an email to amy.richards@state.sd.us  or call the CANS office at 773-3413.

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New Brochures available for promoting school wellness topics

Five new brochures are now available in limited supply from CANS on the following school wellness topics: 

  • Healthy Vending Machine Snacks and Beverages

  • The Use of Nonfood Rewards in School

  • The Benefits of Recess Before Lunch

  • Healthy Fundraising Ideas for Your School

  • Eat your Fruits and Veggies

 They can be viewed and printed from the CANS Web site at: http://doe.sd.gov/oess/cans/training/wellnesspolicy.asp.     

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Incentives Available for Team Nutrition Schools and Childcare Agencies

We have a small number of boomerangs, jump ropes, posters, Sesame Street Pins, book covers and MyPyramid for Kids bookmark style magnets available to Team Nutrition schools and Childcare agencies.  Each school that is signed up as a Team Nutrition school on the National website is eligible for a small number of one of the above incentives.  More information is available in the January 2006 Team Nutrition newsletter available at:  http://doe.sd.gov/oess/cans/nutrition/newsletters.asp.

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“got breakfast?”

Former senators Bob Dole (R-Kansas) and George McGovern (D-S.D.) are launching a major program to get the nation’s children eating a healthy breakfast each day. Both Dole and McGovern were key figures in promoting school nutrition programs while in congress.  The former senators were joined by a long roster of public and nonprofit backers in announcing the program on December 20, 2005, including USDA, the School Nutrition Association, Share Our Strength, the Alliance to End Hunger, National Dairy Council, Food Research and Action Center, and others.

Dole said, “The federal government has appropriated money for breakfast at school—but not enough schools take advantage of it.”  The goal of the new “got breakfast?” campaign is “to help the neediest children start the day with a good breakfast so they are ready to learn,” he said.

According to McGovern, only 9 million of the 29 million eligible children get a school breakfast every day.  “The ‘got breakfast?’ campaign aims to turn a healthy breakfast for every child from a dream into a reality,” said the former senator.

Schoolchildren are invited to submit short essays on the importance of school breakfast to help kick off the campaign.  Four winners will be featured on ‘got breakfast?’ posters to be distributed to schools nationwide.  Each winner will get a laptop computer, and students in their schools will get a week’s worth of free “Breakfast Breaks” –a grab-and-go school breakfast developed by program co-sponsor East Side Entrees.  Entries are due May 31, 2006.

For more information go to www.GotBreakfast.org.

Source: 

  • School Nutrition Professional January 16, 2006

  • Press Release dated December 20, 2005 at www.GotBreakfast.org

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Nutrition Tidbits Whole Grains

As you are working to increase the number of whole grains that you are offering at your school or childcare site, you may be interested to learn more about the benefits of eating whole grains and how to tell if the product you are using is whole grain.  The agricultural Research Service from USDA has an informative article on the web called A Grain of Truth about Fiber Intake.  It can be viewed at:    http://www.ars.usda.gov/is/AR/archive/dec04/fiber1204.htm?pf=1.

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Building for the Future with the CACFP 

Upcoming Training Events –

“Basic Training in the CACFP” Workshop

  • March 1, 2006 – State Library – 800 Governors Drive

  • April 18, 2006 – State Library – 800 Governors Drive

These workshops are designed specifically for new employees working with the Child and Adult Care Food Program.  For more information please contact Melissa Halling at (605) 773-3566 or by email at melissa.halling@state.sd.us.

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Kids on the Move

From Physical Activities and Healthy Snacks for Young Children; Team Nutrition Iowa;

Parachute

Space the children around the edge of a parachute or other sturdy fabric (for example a sheet).  Spread out adults among the children, if there is more than one adult.

Everyone should stand facing the center and grasp the parachute with both hands.  First, hold the parachute still by not moving the hands or arms.  Next, wiggle the parachute using small arm and hand movements.  Do this for 30 seconds and stop.  Try big wiggles by moving the arm and shoulders up and down for 30 seconds then stop.  Switch back and forth between big and little wiggles for 60 seconds.

Raise the parachute above the children’s heads, then lower it to waist height.  Repeat this several times.  Raise the parachute again, but lower it to the ground.  Repeat several times.  When the parachute is raised high lever have a child you name run under and then back to his/her original position.  Repeat until all children have had a turn.  Expand by having children run around the outside and back to his/her place.

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Kids in the Kitchen

From Tickle Your Appetite; as published in Physical Activities and Healthy Snacks for Young Children; Team Nutrition Iowa;

Snappy Vegetables with Basil Dip

Fresh, crisp vegetables beg to be dipped in savory dips – cauliflower, broccoli, carrots, fresh green beans, cherry tomatoes, fresh asparagus, green, red, and yellow peppers, snow peas, and zucchini are just a few.  Combine in a small bowl 1/3 cup low-fat mayonnaise, 2 Tbsp skim milk, 1 Tbsp fresh chopped basil or 1 tsp. dried basil and 1 tsp of onion powder.  Provide children with a serving of fresh vegetables and a small amount of dip.

Snack Idea (1-5 year olds):

  • ½ cup fresh vegetables, 1 bread stick (see next month for easy recipe), and Basil dip.

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