Contractor Selected for FNS Assessment

A Selection Advisory Committee (SAC), comprised of three community members, one Fairfax County Health Department employee and an employee from the Office of Food and Nutrition Services, has submitted their recommendation to the School Board to award the contract for an independent study of FNS to  Prismatic Services, Inc. of Huntersville, NC.

Real Food For Kids proposed this independent study to the School Board in the spring of 2012 in an effort to identify cost-effective ways of transitioning FCPS from its current meals program of highly processed foods to healthier, whole food options. Funding was allocated during a budget meeting last year when a $0.2 million placeholder was created. Those monies will come directly from the FNS reserve fund which does not impact the FCPS operating budget. The School Board is expected to approve the SAC's recommendation at its regular business meeting on January 10.

Prismatic Services, Inc., a K-12 consulting firm, specializes in finding ways to improve the food operations and support services programs that make school districts successful. Fairfax County received six bids for the assessment contract in early August which was narrowed to three best and final offers in early December at which time the recommendation to award the bid to Prismatic was made.

Prismatic, who has worked with school districts around the country evaluating school food operations, recently completed a  diagnostic study of the school meals program in the San Francisco Unified School District which was spearheaded by the Food Banks of San Francisco and Marin Counties in an effort to improve the quality of meals served to students and increase participation in the school meals program.

School + Salad Bars + More Fruits and Vegetables for Children

With parent and principal support your school could have a salad bar like others in FCPS 

Growing research and experience continue to demonstrate that children, when allowed to self-select from a variety of fresh fruits and vegetables on a cafeteria salad bar, will not only respond by trying new items, but incorporate a greater variety of produce into their diets and significantly increase their daily consumption of fresh produce.

And those benefits extend beyond the lunch line. Increased daily access to a variety of fresh fruit and vegetables through salad bars provides students with personal experience to shape their health outcomes by learning to make decisions that carry over outside of school and provide a platform for a lifetime of healthy meal and snack choices.

Nationally, salad bars have had a positive impact for students, but also for schools, communities, and food service operations. Throughout the United States, salad bars in schools have succeeded in:

• providing healthier food options for students and staff
• creating positive press for the county
• driving additional reimbursable meals and a la carte sales
• increasing school meal participation
• increasing consumption of fruits and vegetables
• promoting an healthier nutrition environment for students
• giving students more meal choices

So how do you get a salad bar in your school? You'll need the support of fellow parents, your school's teachers and administrative staff and your principal, but here are the steps to take...

How to Request a Salad Bar for Your School

• Meet with your school principal to discuss a salad bar and to get his or her endorsement
• Ask the principal if you can conduct an informal survey of teachers to get their input (quick email from an administrative assistant to staff with two questions; not an essential task, but good to provide more support for your efforts)
• Contact your school's PTSA/PTSO or PTA/PTO for their support of the salad bar request
• Once you have school support, contact Penny McConnell penny.mcconnell@fcps.edu, Director of FCPS Food and Nutrition Services.
• Indicate school's desire for salad bar
• If applicable, indicate the % of teachers who would support a salad bar
• If applicable, indicate the parent organization support for the salad bar
• Let FNS know how your school will help to promote a salad bar. See "Strategies" below.
• If we can help, let us know. Email us at  contact@realfoodforkids.org 

Strategies for Ensuring the Success of Your New or Existing Salad Bar

A salad bar can only be successful if it is well communicated and promoted. Here are some suggestions to include with your promotion plan to FNS and to implement once your salad bar is on place. These suggestions are based on national best practices and feedback from FCPS schools with salad bars.

Bowls: Bowls for salad bars should meet the National School Lunch Program guidelines for a meal-sized portion, as current pre-packaged salads do. Make sure your cafeteria has ordered bowls that will ensure the students who opt for the salad bar are getting enough food to qualify and which allow them to fill up on the fresh fruit, vegetables, proteins and grains the program requires.

Variety: National best practices suggest that variety improves participation and increases consumption. Think about incorporating seasonal or local produce. Find out what it would take for the harvest from your school garden to qualify to be served. Consider ways to repackage existing menu items, for example, Spicy Chicken Cutlets cut up for one of the protein options.

Signage: Marketing your salad bar should extend beyond the cafeteria. Use signs to advertise this offering throughout the school to reach students who may not currently eat in the cafeteria. Also make sure your signage in the cafeteria tells students specifically where the salad bar is located.

Lunch Menus: Listing the salad bar on the lunch menu will make more people aware of its existence and the variety of healthy foods available to them. Research has shown that using descriptive names for healthy food choices (e.g. creamy corn) also increases participation.

Reinvent: Elementary and Middle schools might consider introducing a self-serve fruit/vegetable bar to encourage choice (which increases the likelihood that kids will eat what they select instead of throwing away an unwanted pre-defined option). Existing equipment could be repurposed or retrofitted for this use. And a bulk-style self-service option would reduce the labor needed to prep individual servings.

Train Your Students: Salad bar etiquette is critical to food safety and appeal. Use video training, power points, orientations or signage to raise awareness of correct practices such as:

• always using utensils to serve themselves
• alerting staff when a spill happens
• taking only what they believe they can eat

Use signage to help remind students of their role in salad bar etiquette and engage them in best practices.

Keep Communicating: Multi-tiered communication will help raise awareness of your new salad bar and continue to keep it in student's minds. Some best practices suggested by other schools include:

• sending a press release to local papers and news outlets
• creating a flyer to announce the salad bar to parents and families
• emailing or sending flyers home with students about a week before the launch
• asking teachers to talk about salad bar, demo salad bar etiquette so that students may practice before the launch.
• contacting the PTA to ask if you can discuss the salad bar and answer questions at their next meeting.
• scheduling taste tests for the day and week before the salad bar launch to introduce students to some of the options they will have.
• sending information home to parents via the school network; weekly folders, newsletters, school website
• posting photos and information about the salad bar program on food service web pages

Keep Making it Special: Raise participation with specific activities/specials. One activity suggested by "The Lunch Box" is Rainbow Days, in which kids choose three food colors, not including white foods, from the salad bar and consume them to receive a prize (for elementary kids, it is a sticker).

Research: Here are some sources that have been helpful, but don't stop researching ways to make your salad bar successful. Real Food For Kids is always here to help you. Please contact us at contact@realfoodforkids.org for suggestions or to share your ideas.

Sources:

Salad Bars - The Lunch Box Guide 

A Field Guide To Salad Bars In Schools - MN 

Cincinnati Public Schools - Livin' on the Vedge 

Rainbow Days: A Salad Bar Student Activity Guide