Fort Lee School District's Food Services Provider Prepared For New Regulations

New USDA regulations are set to go into effect for the 2012-2013 school year based on the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010, and the Fort Lee school district is ready to deal with the required changes, according to its food services provider.

Representatives from Chartwells School Dining Services gave a presentation at the ’s regular business meeting Monday, and the school district posted an overview online, in which the company says it “has made strides in incorporating several positive initiatives” enabling “a smooth transition to the new meal requirements.”

Those initiatives include increased fruit and vegetable requirements, allowable grains and proteins, lower sodium, reduced fats and menus by age groups, among others, according to Chartwells’ letter to parents.

Speaking at the library Monday, Scott Kallensee of Chartwells said the food services provider is “doing our part to educate students to eat healthy.”

“There are some new guidelines going into effect for this year,” Kallensee said. “They’re based on the new healthy eating guidelines that came out about two years ago.”

Noting a number of changes he said would take effect “immediately” in September when Fort Lee students return to school, Kallensee said, for example, that there is going to be an increase in the serving size for fruits and vegetables and a change in the way “complete” meals are determined.

“In the past, fruits and vegetables were kind of counted together, so if a student wanted to take two fruits or two vegetables, they were counted the same,” he said. “And whether or not they took a vegetable or a fruit did not determine whether they took a complete, reimbursable meal.”

Kallensee added, “Now it does.”

“In essence, a complete meal will start with a fruit or a vegetable,” he continued. “We’re going to try as many ways of educating the students and giving them so many choices that they’re bound to like and take one of them.”

Part of the process of educating students will be having menus available and instructions posted near where students are served explaining how they need to “start with a fruit or vegetable” and what else they can add to make theirs a complete meal.

Kallensee also said training of staff will be a key to educating the kids.

Lower sodium “targets” are also a big part of the changes, he said, adding that that shouldn’t be a problem for Chartwells.

“We’ve been working for a number of years to create recipes that have little or no added salt, and we continue to do that, as well as work with our vendors to provide us with products that are lower in sodium,” Kallensee said.

He called the sodium reductions “gradual” and said they will continue over a period of “about 10 years or so.”

Kallensee made similar remarks about the reduced fat requirements in the new guidelines, saying, “We always have had less than 10 percent of our total calories as saturated fats,” and that that will continue to be true. He also said Chartwells removed trans-fats about five years ago.

“So it’s new to the regulations, but it’s not new to us,” Kallensee said.

In addition, there are new guidelines regarding calorie requirements for different age groups, according to Kallensee, with older students “getting a slightly larger portion than the Kindergarten and first and second grade students.”

To view Chartwells’ summary of the new USDA requirements and how the food services provider is planning to comply with them for the coming school year, click here.

Full meal prices for the 2012-2013 school year, according to Chartwells, are as follows:

• $1.70 – elementary breakfast
• $2.50 – elementary lunch
• $1.70 – secondary breakfast
• $2.65 – secondary lunch
• $2.75/$3.10 – high school lunch

“Both Chartwells and the Fort Lee School District are dedicated to providing quality nutritious meals that students will enjoy and choose to eat,” according to Chartwells' letter. “We hope you will encourage your students to try new fruits and vegetables and you will join us for a meal at school to see the changes for yourself.”

Chartwells also provided the following contact information for those with questions or concerns: 201-585-5771 or Scott.Kallensee@compass-usa.com.