Articles in the September 2008 Issue

• A Note from Sandra
• Training for New Kitchen Managers
• National School Lunch Week (NSLW) October 13-17, 2008
• CANS on the Move Again
• Building for the Future with the CACFP
• Kids in the Kitchen
• Kids on the Move
• CANS Welcomes Lynette Thum
• Love Your Veggies™ Grant
• Food Safety
• School Nutrition Association of SD in search of recipes
• Nominations Open for School Nutrition Association Future Leadership

Welcome to the 2008-09 program year and the return of the Nutrition Bulletin. The zucchini crops are flourishing and people everywhere make sure their doors are locked so they don’t unwittingly become the recipient of yet one more zucchini. Did you know that August 8 is designated as “Sneak some zucchini on your neighbor’s porch day”?

My note today is A# (a sharp for those who didn’t get to take music lessons).

• A sharp food service employee is prepared make the most out of situations that present themselves. This year, a sharp food service employee in schools will make the most of the political convention and election to help promote school lunch week and the vote for their favorite food. Child care center staff can certainly adapt that for children in the centers, too.

• A sharp food service employee is thinking about how the changes in food prices are impacting their budget and what they can do about it – raise prices, manage costs, and increase efficiency. In most cases, prices were set well before school started. What can you do to manage costs? Several suggestions are presented on a fact sheet from USDA. You can find it at www.fns.usda.gov/cnd/. Look for “Dietary Guidelines Fact Sheets”. Click on that and many options are available, one of which is "Meeting the Challenge of Rising Food Costs for Healthier School Meals". How do you increase efficiency? Are you serving as many meals as you can – are you promoting reasons for why children should eat meals at school? Costs didn’t go up just for you – they did for families, too. Is your meal a good value? Talk it up! Are there other sites or centers you could be feeding? Can one site prepare meals for other sites in the community – blending preparation for school meals, child care meals, and senior meals? That may increase efficiency for both of you.

Hearings for child nutrition reauthorization will begin this month as USDA and others seek input from program operators for the child nutrition programs. You can submit your ideas to the CANS office, to USDA, and/or to the South Dakota congressional delegation.

Best wishes for a successful program year.

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Training for New Kitchen Managers

Those first months can be pretty overwhelming to a new kitchen manager who soon realizes their job responsibility includes a lot of paper work and reports and is more than just being sure all students are fed a proper meal. If you have a new manager who has not recently attended certification institute sponsored by CANS in June or did not have the opportunity to enroll in the New Manager’s pre-conference class at Fall Conference in July at Watertown, they will have another opportunity to get some training. A 1 ½ day class is being planned for presentation in Pierre on October 9 & 10 with location TBA.

Who should consider attending this training? Anyone who is new to being a kitchen manager or the person responsible for completing required paperwork pertaining to the lunch and breakfast programs within the last year or two. The training will be free of charge, however a fee of $25, to cover materials, will be billed to the school for each person who registered for the class but did not show up for class. Be watching for further information which will be sent to your school. Contact Marlyce Micklos at 773-3610 for more information.

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National School Lunch Week (NSLW) October 13-17, 2008

It’s a Presidential election year and students get to vote for a president too! The buzz surrounding the U.S. presidential election should give your efforts the extra boost they need for your most outstanding “Vote for School Lunch” celebration ever. Vote for School Lunch Presidential Edition should also add some excitement for those under 18, as kids get to vote for a president too—President of School Lunch! The election theme will be easy to carry out in red, white and blue decor as you prepare your school cafeteria areas for the celebration week. Voting starts on August 1, 2008 so begin your promotion right at 'back to school' and keep it going strong until the ballots close on October 17, 2008.

The national School Nutrition Association (SNA) has put together a wide range of useful, fun resources to help you get the most out of NSLW and Vote for School Lunch 2008 – Presidential Edition. Download them today and get on the campaign trail to the best NSLW celebration ever! Click here to get started.

The website has some exciting links to help you plan, organize, and carry out a successful school lunch promotion at your schools. The website includes 12-plus pages of ideas and resources for 'promoting the Vote', including paper ballot instructions and forms. It also has logos that can be downloaded, proclamations, activity sheets, free backpack brochures and stickers, press releases, and merchandize that can be purchased. The students will love the hype and especially enjoy the special meals you serve during the week to carryout the political theme.

CANS strongly encourages all schools to become involved with the 2008 National School Lunch Week promotion. If you take pictures of your NSLW promotions be sure to send some copies to share with either CANS or Eric Kunzweiler who is the publication editor for the SNA of SD newsletter. Eric can be reached at 605-334-2808.

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Building for the Future with the CACFP

Grains and Breads Quiz Show:

In an attempt to help you avoid the most common errors we see during CACFP reviews we are using this as a way to educate agencies on the breads/grains requirements that are most commonly found as errors during program reviews.

Did you know?

• That 1 full serving of grain must include 14.75 grams of fortified, enriched, or whole grain meal or flour. This means:

  • That 1 plain brownie (no nuts, frosting, etc) and 1 piece of frosted cake need to weigh 4 ounces for children ages 6 and older or 2 ounces for children ages 1-5.

  • That cookies (with nuts, raisins, chocolate pieces, fruit purees, etc), doughnuts (cake and yeast raised, glazed or frosted), grain fruit bars, frosted sweet rolls, and frosted toaster pastries need to weigh 2.2 ounces for children ages 6 and older or 1.1 ounce for children ages 1-5.

  • That doughnuts (cake and yeast raised, unfrosted), granola bars (plain), muffins (all, except corn), unfrosted sweet rolls, and unfrosted toaster pastries need to weigh 1.8 ounces for children ages 6 and older or .9 ounces for children ages 1-5.

Check back next month for more Quiz Show learning.

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Kids in the Kitchen

Peanut Butter and Fruit Sandwich
(from Physical Activities and Healthy Snacks for Young Children)

Toast enough whole wheat bread for each child to have ½ slice of toast. Spread 1 tablespoon of peanut butter on each ½ slice of toast and top it with 1/8 cup sliced fresh fruit (bananas, apple, pineapple, kiwi, etc.).

Provides: 1 grain/bread and 1 meat/meat alternate for CACFP Snack for 1-5 year olds.
Calories, 141; Fiber 2.4g; Total Fat, 8.8g; Saturated Fat 1.8g.

Snack Idea (1-5 year olds):

Peanut Butter and Fruit Sandwich with a glass of water.

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Kids on the Move

High, Medium, Low, and Sneaky Snake
(from Physical Activities and Healthy Snacks for Young Children)

Arrange the children in a long line facing you.

Begin by explaining the difference between high and low. Moving “high” is tall, for example when we move up on our toes. Demonstrate by walking high (on your toes) and have the children practice. Moving “low” is short, for example when we move bending down. Demonstrate and have the children practice. Medium is between high and low. Medium is the way we usually move. Demonstrate and have the children practice.

Most skills can be done high, medium, or low. Ask the children to do the following skills at high, medium, and low levels: run, jump, hop, slide, gallop (so that high medium and low hopping one after the other), balance, run, and wiggle. Remember hopping is jumping on one foot. Now pick from one level (for example, low) and vary the skill (e.g., slide wiggle, hop). Switch quickly from one to the other, keeping the children moving. “Sneaky Snake” is the lowest of all. It is when you crawl (belly on the floor). Add sneaky snake to the skills you are varying (e.g. “skip high, wiggle medium, sneaky snake, run high”)

Hint: Tell the children to move from one line or area to a specific place as they practice (for example, to the opposite line).

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CANS Welcomes Lynette Thum

Hello everyone, and welcome to my life, such as it is. My name is Lynette Thum, and I started working in the Child and Adult Nutrition office July 9th. I grew up on the family farm near Scotland, SD (yes, I am the farmer’s daughter), and graduated from Scotland High School in 1978. I graduated from BHSC in 1982 with a B.S. in Mass Communications and a minor in Library Science. I lived in Sturgis and Spearfish before moving to Pierre this summer with my boyfriend, who just started working for the city, and two dogs. So far, I’m having a ball!

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Love Your Veggies™ Grant

Hidden Valley® salad dressings, in partnership with the School Nutrition Foundation, and Produce for Better Health Foundation are offering ten (10), fifteen thousand dollar ($15,000) grants to elementary schools across the nation. Applications must be submitted by 5:00 p.m. Eastern Standard Time (EST) on Nov. 7, 2008. Applications must be submitted online. Application requirements can be found at http://loveyourveggiesgrants.org/guildelines.php.

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Food Safety   

Flies are a major problem this time of the year. Flies can contaminate a lot of product in a short amount of time. Flies are attracted to decaying organic material and sugar. Having a good sanitation program in place is essential to controlling the fly population at this time of year. Preventing access into the building can be accomplished by the following tips.

The following tips are offered for helping keep flies out of your kitchen and school building. Siddiqi, Z. (2008, June/July). Bye Bye Shoo Fly. Food Quality (15)3, 52-53.

• Keep the facility squeaky clean. Set up a regular cleaning schedule.

• Line and seal all trashcans and take the trash out regularly. Keep the dumpsters as far away from the building as possible. Make sure the garbage in the dumpsters is picked up on a regular basis…perhaps more often during the first few weeks of school.

• Flies need a water source to survive. Clean any spills, and immediately fix leaking machines or plumbing to prevent standing water that attracts flies and provides them with a breeding ground.

• Remove drain covers and scrub drains with a brush and in order to prevent organic matter from building up.

• Hang all mops off the ground so that they dry quickly and don’t form puddles of water.

• Install weather stripping on the bottom of all doors and windows to prevent flies from entering.

• Fit windows with #16 mesh screens, which will prevent flies from squeezing through.

• Add air curtains (high speed fans) above frequently used entry-ways and loading docks to literally blow pests away.

• Keep doors and windows closed, and only open when necessary.

• Work with a reputable pest management professional—they can identify the source of the problem and suggest the best treatment method.

Use the Pest Control section of the Food Safety Checklist that is part of your food safety program to help monitor fly and pest infestations.

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