Oakland Food Policy Council

OUSD Nutrition Services continues to make progress in improving their meal offerings for the 108 schools they serve. With new standards and recommendations for the food they are sourcing, OUSD is ahead of the curve. But these changes cannot occur without a little help from the extra funding needed to support such an important program, one that is helping to feed our local kids.

This October, as part of National School Lunch Week, Nutrition Services will be serving up the Ideal Meal. This is a meal of high nutritional value, sourced locally, and made from minimally processed ingredients. A few items planned for the Ideal Meal menu include, grass-fed beef hot dogs and whole-grain bread delivered from a local bakery. These are the kinds of foods Nutrition Services would like to be serving everyday, in addition to products like antibiotic-free poultry, hormone-free milk, whole grains, and locally grown produce. When it comes to sourcing locally, they currently have three tiers to describe the geographic origin of the ingredients used in school food. These range from the most local--within the immediate nine county Bay Area, to the second tier-- which includes areas from Fresno to the border, and finally to the third tier--including the entire state of California. With goals to incorporate more foods from the lower tiers, Nutrition Services is doing its part to support local businesses and farmers and reducing the impact of their food purchases, while also promoting the health of their students.

How can we make the ideal meal happen everyday

Jennifer LeBarre, Director of OUSD Nutrition Services, spoke with us about making the Ideal Meal possible. There are a few ways to increase supports for the school lunch program in order to make these healthy, local options the everyday option for students. First, increasing federal reimbursements for the National School Lunch Program could boost Nutrition Services’ ability to continue improving their selection of foods. A dollar increase per meal could help these healthy options occur on a daily basis.

Another food policy change that could lead to school food improvements would be to adjust the way state funding is made available for the school food programs. Currently, state funding is appropriated to the program, with a certain amount set aside for each year. With this system, if the appropriated money is spent before the end of the school year, Nutrition Services has to make up the difference to make it through the remaining weeks or months. On the other hand, if the state shifted to an entitlement plan for these funds, then the program would be guaranteed funds to last through the entire school year. Such a change would allow the state school food reimbursements to be distributed in the same way food stamps are allocated at the federal level –if there are more individuals eligible for the program, then the government continues to fund at a level that will serve all of those eligible. Less stress about making it to the end of the school year would allow Nutrition Services more flexibility in providing ideal options.

The big piece of federal legislation still in Congress, the Child Nutrition Reauthorization, has many potential tools for making more Ideal Meals possible. Proposed increases in reimbursements and overall funding for school food programs could translate into increased staff, more training, and higher wages. This, along with funds for improved kitchen equipment, could make way for additional scratch-cooking and therefore the use of less processed foods. OUSD has already benefited from stimulus money, which allowed them to purchase new ovens and equipment to bolster their scratch-cooking abilities. Ideal Meals come from more than just good, healthy foods; there are many people behind the process and fair funding can provide the support they need.

Look for the Ideal Meal in your local schools this fall. And if you like the idea of homemade, local and healthy foods for our Oakland students, help support the ways to make the Ideal Meal possible everyday. For more information on Child Nutrition Reauthorization and how you can encourage Congress members to act on this bill, visit the Hunger Action Center and the Food Research and Action Center. The Oakland School Food Alliance is another local resource taking action on the issue.