Food & Nutrition [Volume 3, Number 5]

              October 1973 • Volume 3 • Number 5
I For Building Use Only j PROPERTY OF TH£
I IRRARY
DEC 1 3 1973
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2
By Clayton Yeutter
Assistant Secretary
THE DEPARTMENT OF Agriculture
and school food service workers
across the Nation have enjoyed a
long and productive association.
Since assuming my role as As­sistant
Secretary of Agriculture in
January, I have been most impressed
by the tremendous job done by the
Federal-State-local child nutrition
programs.
We at the Federal level are well
aware that it is you in the States
and communities who deserve much
of the credit. The accomplishments
of these programs are a tribute to
your professional dedication and
service.
In total, the lunch program now
provides nutritious lunches to more
than 25 million children in over
86,000 schools. Some 8.8 million of
these youngsters-more than double
the number 4 years ago-are get­ting
free and reduced-price meals
because their parents can't afford to
pay the regular price. All in all,
school lunches are now available to
85 percent of the Nation's school­children.
And the newer, more specialized
school breakfast, and special food
service programs for non-school
situations are providing additional
nutrition to thousands upon thou­sands
of children, mostly those from
poor families.
I was able to get a firsthand look
at these activities in New Orleans
when I visited one of 40 city schools
offering summer food service. The
success of the program, which was
jointly sponsored by the city's rec­reation
and school food service de­partments,
illustrates the value of
involving school food service per­sonnel
in summer operations.
Many cities and towns completely
close down their school lunchrooms
during the vacation period, leaving
the summer food service program to
other sponsors, often inexperienced
and unfamiliar with food service
operations. We know it doesn't have
to be that way. In New Orleans, all
130 of the school food service
workers employed in this year's
summer program asked for the as­signment,
and their experience and
talents made all the difference in
achieving an effective smooth-run­ning
food service.
We were pleased that the Child
Nutrition Advisory Council added
the summer food service program to
their list of priority concerns in their
report for 1972. The Council is now
over 2 years old and has made nota­ble
contributions in studying the
child nutrition programs and recom­mending
improvements. In recent
meetings the group has focused on
such areas as nutrition standards for
child food service programs, reach­ing
schools without food service,
increasing student participation in
existing lunch programs, and nutri­tion
education and training.
Looking at child nutrition pro­grams
over the long term suggests,
in my judgment, the need for cau­tion
in pressing for further legisla­tive
changes in the immediate
future. Recent years have seen ex­tensive
alterations in the laws and
procedures governing these pro­grams.
They have demanded tre­mendous
adjustments on the part of
each of you. Now we all need time
to fully assimilate the recent pro­visions,
and to study the impact of
these changes on our clientele, the
children.
A good example is the recent
change in the law regarding control
food and nutrition
..
of food sales deemed in competi­tion
with the Type A lunch. What
will be the true effect of State and
local control over this aspect of
school feeding? Indications are that
States are moving promptly to as­sume
their responsibilities in this
area. We need an opportunity to see
how that approach works before try­ing
still another.
One of the most fundamental
changes was the adoption of a na­tional
standard for determining a
child's need for a free or reduced­price
lunch. By any measure this
program has been highly successful.
The present 8.8 million needy
youngsters receiving meals free or at
reduced cost owe much to your in­dividual
efforts to achieve wide pub­lic
understanding of their needs. It
is important that you continue to
give this special attention in order
to maintain and enhance its effec­tiveness.
Serving the needy in school
lunch programs is of widespread
public interest; it must continue to
be a high priority for all of us re­sponsible
for program operations.
In all areas, sound program man­agement
requires us to continually
assess our priorities and establish
realistic objectives. To do this, we
must keep attuned to changing
economic and budgetary conditions,
public attitudes, and the expecta­tions
of the young people we serve.
We must become managers of
change. It isn't enough to stand still
with the same program concepts, the
same techniques, and the same com­munications
channels if we are going
to strengthen school food service.
Currently, the Department has
some significant changes on the
agenda which should broaden your
opportunities to meet the needs of
october 1973
your many school lunch customers.
Many of you have asked for
greater flexibility in meal standards
to allow for more menu variety to
meet local needs and tastes.
Through a contract with Colorado
State University, we are currently
testing the possibility of restructur­ing
the meal standards to a nutrient
basis, as an alternative to the Type A
food group structure. During the
first year's work, the experience of
the 30 participating school lunch
menu planners, who put the nutrient
standard approach into everyday use,
shows it has promise. Moreover, you
don't need a Ph.D. in science to
use it. We plan to continue the
study, working toward the develop­ment
of practical guidelines to put
the system to work on a wider scale.
Potentially, it offers a workable
alternative to the Type A pattern,
combining new flexibility with the
assurance of meeting nutrition
standards.
One preliminary result of the nu­trient
standard study showed that
youngsters drink significantly more
milk when they're offered a choice.
In accord with recommendations of
the American Dietetic Association
and the National Advisory Council
on Child Nutrition, the Department
has announced new rules to allow a
wider choice of milk served with
meals provided under child nutrition
programs. Schools can now offer
a choice of fluid whole, lowfat, skim
or cultured buttermilk, unflavored
or flavored milk .
In another move to add flexibility,
convenience, and nutrition to child
feeding programs, the Department
has been looking at the use of vari­ous
engineered or alternate foods.
After an initial proposal and careful
consideration of three such foods,
we have decided to move ahead
with an amendment to the rules al­lowing
their use in child nutrition
programs. The products include:
protein-fortified macaroni; textured
vegetable protein (chiefly for use as
a meat extender); and fortified
bakery products for breakfast and
snack programs, primarily in schools
with limited facilities.
We worked under contract with
food researchers at Rutgers Univer­sity
to involve the food industry in
developing and testing many such
new ideas in fortified and en­gineered
foods. It was an important
and worthwhile step toward bring­ing
the benefits of food research and
technology to bear on the needs of
the child feeding programs.
Now that the first initiatives have
been taken, we intend to shift our
emphasis toward developing a sys­tem
to facilitate the introduction and
use of commercially developed
foods that can make a nutritional
and practical contribution to these
programs. Each year brings a fresh
crop of new food products to market
and today's market offers a multi­tude
of food items that are not in
the form of "traditional foods."
At this stage we feel the Depart­ment's
major role in this area should
be to evaluate the usefulness and
adaptability of new products for pos­sible
use in child nutrition programs.
Our judgments will, of course, be
based on thorough review of nutri­tional
acceptability data supplied by
industry. We will then be better
equipped to answer the questions
many of you are asking on how to
credit certain combination food
products to the requirements of the
Type A lunch pattern. In fact, that is
3
a prime objective of our new efforts.
The use of a nutrient standard
in menu planning would naturally
eliminate the need for sorting out
combination foods to fit the Type A
pattern. It would also underscore the
need for a sound, objective basis for
evaluating new food products, not
only in terms of nutrients provided,
but also their potential overall im­pact
on school food service and the
children we serve.
Any subsequent changes this may
mean for the Type A pattern or meal
standards for child nutrition pro­grams
would be subject to the rule­making
process, which gives all
those concerned and interested a
chance to comment on the pro­posals.
Our goal is simply to provide
you with a range of alternatives for
accomplishing your tasks.
Currently, the school lunch pro­gram
is serving about half the
youngsters enrolled in U.S. elemen­tary
and secondary schools on a
daily basis. We're reaching a lot
more than that, for not all our cus­tomers
participate on any one day.
Without question, we've come a
long way in a few short years, but
the question remains: Where are
those youngsters we're not serving
daily? Who's feeding them? On a
local basis, those answers will have
to come from you.
On a national basis, we find that
there are two groups "outside" the
child nutrition programs. First, nearly
5 million children nationwide do not
have access to these programs be­cause
the schools they attend have
no food service. Of these, some 2.6
million are in public schools and the
remainder are in parochial and other
nonprofit private schools. Among
4
those children are certainly many
who would be eligible for free or
reduced-price meals.
We have placed a high priority
on making school lunches accessible
to all children, in keeping with the
intent of Congress and the recom­mendations
of the National Advisory
Council on Child Nutrition. The
Food and Nutrition Service has been
working closely with school officials
across the country to encourage
more food service programs.
And in recent months such or­ganizations
as the United States
Jaycees, the American Medical As­sociation's
Auxiliary Nutrition Com­mittee,
the American Legion, and the
U.S. Catholic Conference have
joined in the national effort to "get
lunches to children."
In many instances, it's a matter
of selling the school administrator
and the local school board on the
advantages of child nutrition pro­grams.
I do not believe it would be
either possible or appropriate to
mandate school participation in
these activities. Important decisions
on education matters have tradi­tionally
been functions of State and
local governments and, in my view,
that's where the responsibility be­longs.
Even as we strive to make it pos­sible
for 5 million youngsters to be
able to get a lunch at school, there's
another group of "unreached" chil­dren-
those who don't take advan­tage
of the lunch bargain available
to them in participating schools.
Naturally, it's their choice, and we
want to keep it that way. We want
our customers to be satisfied. The
question is: How do we get these
youngsters to choose the nutritious
Type A lunch at school everyday?
This problem was given a high
priority by the National Advisory
Council. FNS, in cooperation with
State and local school lunch direc­tors,
undertook a study to find out
what factors influence participation
of teenagers in the lunch program.
The study encompassed 10 high
schools with average daily participa­tion
of 84 percent, and 10 schools
that averaged 12 percent.
The study demonstrates the im­portance
of three factors: the atti­tude
of school administrators; efforts
to "merchandise" the Type A lunch
through information-education cam­paigns
and pricing relative to a Ia
carte; and student involvement in
planning. The study demonstrates
that these factors can significantly
increase participation when applied
in the low participation situations.
The report presents a tremendous
challenge to all of us-and to you
especially. It helps pinpoint some
of the answers to questions which
I'm sure you in the food service field
ask yourselves and your co-workers
all the time. In short: What can each
of you do to get more children into
your lunchrooms? What inspires
kids to eat the nutritious lunches
you serve?
We've got some of the answers
now-or at least some very strong
clues. Now it is up to all of us to put
the knowledge into practice in order
to meet the mutual responsibilities
we have to the nutritional health of
America's children. *:
Excerpts from remarks by Assistant
Secretary Yeutter at the Convention
of the American Schoof Food Service
Association, August 2, 1973.
food and nutrition
A look at
High Schools:
a e~
usne l?•-• EACH YEAR MORE and more chil­dren
are being brought into the
National School Lunch Program
through the campaign to enlist "no­program"
schools. But there remains
a large group of "unreached" chil­dren-
those who have access to
lunch programs in their schools, but
do not participate on a regular basis.
Finding ways to reach these young­sters
is one of the biggest challenges
october 1973
facing the child nutrition programs.
Because this problem is particu­larly
evident in high schools, FNS
has undertaken an in-depth study in
representative high schools to find
out what makes school lunch sell.
The first phase of the national
study has been completed. It de­fines
the major factors influencing
teenage participation in child nutri ­tion
programs, and tests the validity
of the factors believed to stimulate
high participation. The results sug­gest
guidelines for State and local
school lunch directors to use in their
efforts to boost participation in their
high schools.
The year-long study was con­ducted
in cooperation with the FNS
Regional Offices, and State and local
school lunch directors. Twenty high
schools across the country were sur­veyed-
ten with an average daily
participation of over 80 percent, and
ten with less than 20 percent.
The 20 schools represented a total
enrollment of 23,500 students-with
an average enrollment of 750 stu­dents
in high participation schools,
and 1600 students in low participa­tion
schools. FNS staff members
visited each school a number of
times to try to find out why some
schools enjoy good turn-out, while
others suffer low participation.
The attitudes and opinions of stu­dents,
faculty, and food service per­sonnel
show how they feel about
food and health in general, Type A
lunches, and the school's overall
food service program.
A questionnaire was prepared
and given to 50 students in each of
the 20 schools surveyed. On an
average, one out of every 15 stu­dents
in high participation schools
and one out of every 32 students in
the low participation schools re­ceived
the questionnaire.
Here are significant results of the
study: * Closed vs. Open Campus.
Seventy percent of all schools visited
had "closed campus," where stu­dents
were not allowed off school
grounds during lunchtime. The high
participation schools with open
campus were in rural areas where
off-campus attractions were limited.
While it had been thought that
closed campus was THE most im­portant
factor in high participation,
study results show that it is not.
Two-thirds of the low participation
schools had closed campus- and
still had less than 12 percent of their
students eating the Type A lunch.
In fact, 64 percent of the students
from all ten low participation
schools reported never eating the
Type A lunch at all.
Low participation by students in
closed campus high schools is one of
several results that show a strong
desire by students to be treated as
customers, not as part of a captive
audience. * A Ia Carte Service. The extent
of a Ia carte service in a high school
proved to be a major difference be­tween
the high and low participation
schools.
Eighty percent of the high par­ticipation
schools had limited a Ia
carte arrangements, and the Type A
lunch was obviously a better buy
than "the sum of its parts" a Ia carte.
Conversely, 90 percent of the low
participation schools had extensive
a Ia carte programs. In some cases,
administrators felt that a Ia carte
service would meet the students'
needs and be more economical to
operate. None of the low participa­tion
schools made a strong effort to
promote or "merchandise" the Type
A lunch as more nutritious or eco­nomical.
* Attitudes of Administrators and
Faculty. Part of Type A's lackluster
in low participation high schools
may stem from indifferent or nega­tive
attitudes held by administrators
and faculty. Whereas all of the ad­ministrators
polled in the high par­ticipation
schools had very positive
feelings about the National School
Lunch Program and its benefits, only
two of the ten low participation
school administrators were positive
in their feelings . The lunch programs
at the schools of these two adminis­trators
subsequently met with the
greatest success in a later part of the
study which involved testing meth­ods
of increasing participation.
The indifferent attitude of some
administrators may come from hav­ing
so many other demands upon
their time. The study showed that
5
"Box lunches" made a big hit with these
California high school students. In a spe­cial
test to boost participation, the cafe­teria
staff packed a complete Type A lunch
in easy-to-carry cardboard boxes. The kids
could eat them anywhere they liked- under
the trees or at picnic tables on campus.
food and nutrition are not of major
concern to many school administra­tors
who are contending with such
things as drug abuse, violence, polit­ica*
l pressures, and curriculum. Student Attitudes. A survey of
student eating habits points to the
crucial need in the teenager's diet
for a balanced, nutritious meal at
school-only 40 percent of BOTH
high and low participation students
responded that they ate three bal­anced
meals daily. Nonetheless,
many students had negative feelings
about the Type A lunch even in the
schools with high participation,
where a student eats an average of
3.9 lunches a week.
Only one-fifth of the students
from both high and low participation
schools reported eating a nutritious
breakfast. And, of those who ate
snacks before lunch, only one-fifth
chose nutritious snacks.
Students in both high and low
participation schools indicated a
desire for a more appetizing Type A
lunch, with larger portions-and for
less money. The average lunch cost
to students in high participation
schools was 32 cents, as opposed to
44 cents in low participation schools.
The study revealed that while two­thirds
of the students in high par­ticipation
schools viewed the Type A
lunch as important to their health,
fewer of the students in low partici­pation
schools did so. This was con­sidered
a crucial difference, and was
6
food and nutrition
taken into account in the sugges­tions
for raising participation later in
the study.
Another significant finding was
the desire of more than three­fourths
of the students in both high
and low participation schools for
more choice within the menus­possibly
several alternative Type A
lunches. They also wanted to par­ticipate
in menu planning.
Contrary to some common expec­tations,
only half of the students
polled considered hot dogs, ham­burgers,
pizza, french fries, or
lasagna among their top five favor­ite
entrees. Less than 15 percent of
both high and low participation stu­dents
listed vegetables among their
october 1973
least favorite foods.
Also in both high and low par­ticipation
high schools, more than
half of the students interviewed felt
that there was not sufficient time
allotted for students to get to the
cafeteria, go through the line, eat,
and get back to class. This attitude
has a direct impact on participation.
If the lines are too long, students
will often get a snack or not eat.
The condition of the facilities in
both high and low participation
schools was fairly similar, with some
attractive and some· drab cafeterias
in both groups. Students generally
would like to eat in more pleasant
surroundings, but this factor was not
as important to them as being able
to take part in planning the menu.
The results of the study suggest
that the key to increasing participa­tion
in many schools is to make the
food as attractive and appealing as
possible and to promote the lunch
by increasing student awareness of
the value of the Type A lunch.
To test this hypothesis, five of the
low participation schools were se­lected
for further study. The critical
factors isolated as encouraging high
participation were incorporated into
the programs of these schools. The
findings showed: * With efforts made to merchan­dise
and promote the Type A lunch,
the average daily participation in
one Missouri high school increased
127 percent. The students responded
favorably to promotions designed to
show them how much money they
could save by purchasing a "spe­cial"
lunch instead of the same items
a Ia carte.
The Student Council at the high
school set up a committee to con­tinue
promotion of the program, and
efforts were started to involve the
school's district office in promo­tional
efforts. The students at the
high school were pleased with the
new service-not only with the pro­motional
posters, but also with the
increased choice and variety. * The "box lunch" approach
(marketing a hamburger, french fries,
a salad or fruit, cookie and a choice
of milk from an "express line" at
the cafeteria's snack bar) raised a
Texas high school's average daily
participation 60 percent without de­tracting
from the regular plate lunch
service. Again, the Student Council
and the art department were in­volved
in the "kick off campaign."
The findings from the study are
included in a report, which is being
made available to Regional Offices
and State Educational Agencies.
These offices will be able to use the
report to further explore and test
means of increasing participation
among high school students. 1;:{
7
By Benedicta Montoya
Schools throughout the country
are seeking new ways to increase
participation in the school lunch
program and to insure that children
eat a complete Type A meal.
In several Oregon schools two
different approaches-one directed
at elementary schoolchildren, the
other at high school students-are
meeting with considerable success .
• N BEAVERTON SCHOOL District, I Beaverton, Ore., lunch is an ex­perience
in dining and nutrition.
Meals at six of the district's 26
elementary schools are served family
style, with students eating in small
groups of six to eight classmates. In
each group one child sits at the head
of the table and serves as host or
hostess for the week.
The hosts and hostesses arrive in
the cafeteria about 5 minutes before
the other children. They set the
tables and prepare for their dining
companions while cafeteria person­nel
use carts to wheel serving bowls
of salads, desserts, and hot rolls to
the tables. just minutes before their
classmates arrive, the student lead­ers
pick up the main dishes from the
steam table.
In addition to setting the tables,
hosts and hostesses go to the kitch­en
for seconds and clear off the
tables when the meal is completed.
They also introduce guests, begin
the meal, and set an example in
acceptable behavior and manners.
Children who bring sack lunches sit
at the table with their classmates
and take their turns as hosts or
hostesses.
Hosting a meal is a great honor for
the children, says district school
food supervisor Ethel Parr. Even the
8
youngest children (first graders)
quickly learn how to do it.
The idea for family style dining,
according to Mrs. Parr, grew out of
an annual week-long camping trip
conducted by the school for the
older children. The youngsters stud­ied
nature and ecology-and ate
family style. When the campers re­turned
to the school cafeteria, the
teachers were amazed at how well­mannered
and courteous they were,
and family style serving was born.
Courtesy and table manners are
stressed during mealtime, but rules
are kept to a minimum. The children
learn from the good example of the
host or hostess and get helpful hints
from the school personnel. At the 1 start of the school year each student
gets a copy of "Tips on Table Man-ners,"
a pamphlet based on com-ments
of students.
Hosts and hostesses are also re-minded
of their responsibilities by the cafeteria manager when they be- gin their week-long duties. Mrs. Parr points out that schools
food and nutrition )()I Lunch FUN!
J
using family style serving feel that
it is one way a lunch program may
be used as an educational experi­ence.
It can help students learn to
cooperate in a group setting, accept
responsibility, and be self-directed.
At the six Beaverton schools using
this approach, only one teacher is
on duty in the cafeteria during the
lunch period. In keeping with the
spirit of family style, the teacher
tries to supervise as indirectly as
possible.
Cafeteria personnel, freed from
october 1973
serving in a lunch line, also walk
around the lunchroom and encour­age
the children to eat a balanced
meal and to take small servings of
foods they might not try. Mrs. Parr
says that knowing the cook has a
tremendous effect on a child's ac­ceptance
of new foods .
Each student takes his plate, uten­sils,
and milk carton to the disposal
area. The host or hostess then clears
the serving dishes from the table and
wipes it clean for the next group.
School custodians say the cafeteria
Lunch is a lesson in nutrition and dining
for these Beaverton, Ore., youngsters. The
children eat "family style" in small groups
and take turns serving as host or hostess.
area has been left much cleaner
after the noon meal since family
style feeding began.
Equipment-wise, Mrs. Parr ex­plains,
switching to family style re­quired
only the addition of relatively
inexpensive serving carts. It was nec­essary
to replace the trays with
dishes, but the trays were usable in
the district's other schools.
"It costs more to feed family
style," she says, "but only because
the children eat more." Food waste
has been found to be minimal and
greater amounts of food are being
consumed. "Children are more
agreeable to serving themselves than
being served." And they like the
friendly and relaxed atmosphere.
School lunch, Mrs. Parr explains,
can compete with playtime in the
schoolyard. In the traditional meth­od
of feeding, children will wait in
line to be served but often rush
through the meal or not finish so
that they can get out and play.
Younger children, who eat slower,
9
Hosts and hostesses at Beaverton get ready to pick up the main dish at the steam table.
see others leave and feel pressured
to finish their lunch. In family style
serving, the children spend all their
time in the cafeteria eating at the
table and are dismissed by table by
the teacher on duty.
It is very important, Mrs. Parr
warns, that all school personnel­from
custodian to principal- believe
in family style feeding. "All will be
involved," she says. For the teacher
it requires teaching more than aca­demic
subjects. "Success depends
on the attitude and willingness of
the teacher to plan classroom ac-
10
tivities that will supplement those of
the cafeteria.
"Family style serving does not
solve all cafeteria problems," she
continues, "but it does offer an ex­cellent
opportunity for students to
learn by doing."
Because of the success of family
style feeding in the Beaverton
School District over the past 3 years,
ten other Oregon school districts
and one in Washington have visited
the program and expressed an in­terest
in having similar arrangements
in their schools.
aT GRANTS PASS HIGH
School, th_e school lunch
program IS designed to
serve "customers," says Richards
Miller, State school food and nutri­tion
services coordinator.
Miller, who for many years was an
"operations man" with a large East­ern-
based restaurant chain, has
brought to the high school food
service techniques used by many of
the Nation's most successful quick
food service operations.
Traditionally, Miller points out,
school lunch has served a "captive
audience." However, with open
campuses and a myriad of other
activities competing for the time and
attention of students, "school lunch
needs to be competitive."
The State school lunch director
feels that the traditional method of
feeding students- the line 'em up
way-is outdated, especially for high
school students. "It's an attempt,"
he explains, "to adapt an elementary
type feeding system to young adults.
In the food service business-com­mercial
or nonprofit-if you are
stagnant, you are on the decline."
The Grants Pass High School's re­designed
lunch program, now in its
second year of operation, is, accord­ing
to Miller, the only one of its
kind. Starting from scratch, he per­sonally
designed the layout, deter­mined
the type of equipment and
facilities that were to be installed,
and how things were to be operated.
Assisted and supported by district
school food service supervisor Doris
Reader and cafeteria manager Wilma
Harvey, Miller planned not only to
feed his customers efficiently, but to
entice them into eating as well. The
lights over the serving lines, for ex-food
and nutrition
ample, are the kind that enhance
the appearance of the food. And
they are placed in such a way as to
focus attention on the food rather
than the distracting food prepara­tion
area behind the serving line.
Because Miller believes that hot
food should be served on warm
plates, there are plate warmers.
There are also special racks used
to bring frozen french fries to room
temperature before cooking in order
to maintain the proper cooking tem­perature
in the deep fryer. "If you
want consistently good french fries,
you don't plunge frozen french fries
into boiling oil," he says.
Bakery products ranging from
danish pastry to several different
types of breads and rolls are baked
fresh daily. Hamburger buns go from
oven to customer within 11/2 hours.
Miller explains that it is sometimes
necessary to take the buns directly
from oven to the freezer to cool
them enough to slice and butter.
The 1 /6-pound hamburger is
cooked as the customer waits, and
here, too, it's to a Miller formula­"
35 seconds on each side for the
best hamburger around."
And, there is a milk shake offered
(1 0¢ extra) that is made according
to a USDA-approved formula. The
formula for the shake, according to
Miller, was researched for a year.
He calls it a "Type A Shake."
The cafeteria's customers are of­fered
a selection from seven protein­rich
entrees. They select one. The
entrees include: a diet plate, a sand­wich
plate, a hamburger or cheese­burger
plate, and three hot plates,
such as country style steak, spanish
rice or chicken pot pie.
There are ten fruit and vegetable
selections from which customers
choose any three; and three bread
and cereal selections, from which
they choose one or two.
As a "bonus" to the Type A lunch,
the cafeteria offers three choices for
dessert. Miller explains that in most
school lunch programs the dessert
is part of the Type A lunch and
meets the fruit-and-vegetable or
bread-and-cereal requirement. At
in addition to an already complete
Type A lunch.
The method by which the students
are served the wide selection of
Type A meals-the Multiple "A"
Selection System-is called the Ultra
High Speed Open Square.
As the name implies, it is an open
square to which the customers are
admitted in a regulated flow. The
open square system, according to
Miller, can serve up to 60 customers
a minute. However, he warns, it
doesn't just happen-it requires
training of food service personnel
and customer confidence in the
quality and quantity of food.
When the customer enters the
cafeteria, he is given a menu, so
that he can determine his selection
as he awaits his turn in the square.
For the program to operate as
planned, a number of conditions
must exist. Miller explains that there
must be 90 percent "repeat" cus­tomers,
of which 40 to 60 percent
make their menu selection before
entering the square. Of all cus­tomers,
25 percent must select one
of the three quick-to-fix sandwich
plates. And finally, Miller stresses,
service must be good, fast and effi­cient,
and quality must keynote
every aspect of the program.
The State school food and nutri-tion
service coordinator has instilled
in the Grants Pass cafeteria staff the
thought that the product is not just
food but attitude as well.
"Facilities," he says, "are not
enough. You can systemize. You can
take pains to insure that food quality
is good. But, if the climate isn't
right, it's all in vain."
He points to his experiences in
the commercial food service busi­ness
and his approach to putting
"sick" restaurants back into the
profit column. "What was lacking in
most cases," he says, "was a little
love in the soup."
Miller looks upon the Grants Pass
operation as a laboratory where stu­dents
are learning good nutrition.
In the beginning, he explains, the
customer may have selected three
fruits from the ten fruits and vege­tables
offered. But soon, the students
began to experiment with a variety
of fruits and vegetables.
"Whether it's conscious or not,
students are selecting a well-bal­anced
meal and getting an idea of
what it's all about. In some cases,"
says Miller, "they've gotten to this
age without ever experiencing prop­er
meal selection before. When they
get out of school, they'll go to a
grocery store and make a choice
based on their experiences here."
At Grants Pass as in Beaverton,
school food service has broken with
tradition and met with success. In
both cases it's not just improved
food preparation that has made the
difference, but the involvement of
school personnel beyond the food
preparation and serving stages. Or,
as Richards Miller might say, it's
"putting a little love in the soup." *
Grants Pass, the dessert selection is Grants Pass High School students move quickly through the "open square" serving area.
october 1973 11
12
In a special training program,
cashier jeanne Lamison learns
how to handle food coupons.
Cashiers Learn
How Food Stamps Work
J eanne Lamison was in school
the other day. No matter that
school was situated on the un­finished
second floor of a brand
new, not-yet-open supermarket,
where busy workmen were hammer­ing-
it was still school.
jeanne and seven fellow students
were learning the intricacies of being
a cashier in a Wayne, N.j ., supermar­ket
set to open a few weeks later.
The store is part of a major food
chain, which provides the special
training course to all new employees
in the six Northeast States it serves.
One session in the 30-hour course
is devoted solely to how the Federal
food stamp program works.
Cashiers must learn for example,
which of the items sold in the store
cannot be purchased with food
stamps.
"A food stamp customer comes to
the checkout counter with soap,
cigarettes, beer, and aspirin," said
Customer Service Manager Kathie
McCraig, who ran the training pro­gram.
"Can he or she pay for any
of them with food stamps?"
The answer, the trainees soon
learned, is no. Only food for home
consumption, excluding alcoholic
beverages, can be purchased under
the program.
The new employees also learned
such things as how to handle tax
food and nutrition
and soda bottle deposits and make
change in stamp transactions. In
making change, cashiers use unen­dorsed
50 cent stamps and store
scrip instead of cash.
During the session, john Garrett,
head of the Mount Holly, N.j., FNS
field office, distributed booklets pre­pared
by FNS for cashier guidance,
and explained more about the food
stamp program.
"When you consider that a store
that fails to comply with the regula­tions
can be disqualified from the
program for a period of 30 days up
to 3 years," he told them, "you'll un­derstand
how important it is to know
the rules."
later, after the lesson, Mr. Garrett
said he has conducted some 150
training sessions in the last 6 years.
"Any food store-from a huge
supermarket chain to a family­owned
grocery-can request cashier
training from me," he explained.
Of course, food stamp trade can
be big business. According to an
executive of the chain, the largest
store in the Bronx, N.Y., conducts
about $100,000 a week in food
stamp business-a substantial frac­tion
of its total volume.
"We expect the new Wayne store,
our 1 OOth store, to handle a large
volume of business, using 15 cashiers
at peak hours. Although food stamp
trade will probably not be a major
factor here," the store executive
said, "we still feel training in it to be
essential."
In addition to special training pro­grams
for new stores, the chain also
has seven regular centers for training
new personnel and for periodic re­training.
Students are paid their
normal starting salary throughout the
training program.
Apparently the training pays off.
John Garrett explained, "We have
definitely fewer compliance prob­lems
with this chain than with many
other stores."
And according to jeanne Lamison,
the cashier-trainee who lives in
Wayne, "You get really scared think­ing
of standing behind the register
when people are waiting in line and
you're expected to know all the
rules. This training gives me more
confidence in myself." -ti
october 1973
Nurse.ry HeiPI
Food Stamp Clients
THE WAITING ROOM of the Tus­caloosa,
Ala., food stamp office is
typical of the hundreds of other food
stamp office waiting rooms through­out
the country-with one excep­tion.
This room is huge.
The building, once a church, has
been converted for office use, and
the one-time sanctuary serves as the
waiting room. The front and rear
sections of the building are used for
office space.
In much the same manner as
when the building was a church,
long rows of benches face the front
of the room. In them people wait
to purchase food stamps, while in
the rows facing the rear in another
section of the room, others wait to
be interviewed by caseworkers.
On an average day, over 400 peo­ple
will file into this room to obtain
their food stamps. Many of these
are mothers with small children,
who, unlike many youngsters in
other food stamp certification of­fices,
do not hang onto their
mothers and make the visit a weary
one.
On the contrary, the children look
forward to the trip. The moment
they enter the door, broad grins ap­pear
on their faces as they rush to
the nursery in the rear of the room.
The nursery is filled with tables,
chairs, books and toys of every de­scription.
Here they play games,
hear stories, enjoy cookies and fruit
juices, and meet new friends.
"They all have lots of fun," says
Pat Hargrave, a former school
teacher, who is chairman of the
project for the Women of the Cove­nant
Presbyterian Church. "At the
same time, the mothers have a
chance to relax for a few minutes."
Ruth Kornegay, food stamp super­visor,
wonders how they managed
before the Presbyterian women
started the nursery. Sometimes, she
recalls, pandemonium reigned as
tired children romped around the
room, upsetting chairs and not
knowing what to do with them­selves.
The project was conceived at a
meeting at which a speaker enumer­ated
many opportunities for service
in the community. One suggestion
was that the women operate a nurs­ery
in the food stamp office.
The women took it from there.
In a short time, they converted the
rear section of the building into a
nursery complete with chairs, tables,
books, toys, and all types of games.
Each day two women serve as
nursery managers, conducting the
children in their games, serving re­freshments,
telling stories, and mak­ing
them feel at home.
"As you might well expect," says
Mrs. Hargrave, "the volunteer
workers have more fun than the chil­dren."
The owner of the Piggly Wiggly
Supermarket nearby, H. B. Looney,
was so excited about the project
that he offered to furnish refresh­ments,
including cookies, peanut
butter, crackers, fruit juices, along
with plates, cups, and napkins.
The women use the opportunity
to provide as much instruction as
possible in proper eating habits and
better nutrition. The Food and Nutri­tion
Service's coloring books, fur­nished
by the FNS Tuscaloosa Field
Office, are used, and the walls are
filled with colorful pictures and
drawings. -ti
13
Bt-in1c
~~g
14
Chinese, Spanish, and " soul
food" meals provide a
taste of home for some of
these young New Yorkers­and
expand the food
tastes of their classmates.
FAMILIARITY BREEDS contempt
.. or does it?
It doesn't where children and
school lunch are concerned. The
foods that kids know, the dishes
they get at home, are the ones
they'll eat.
And when home is in Manhattan's
famous Lower East Side, home-style
cooking tells a capsule history of
New York City immigration in recent
years.
So when the local school board
began running its own school lunch
program last year, the focus was on
foods with an ethnic twist: "arroz
con polio" . . . chicken and rice, sea­soned
in the Puerto Rican style. And
Southern fried chicken, with collard
greens and cornbread . . . "soul"
food a black child would savor. Even
chow mein and fried rice, straight
out of Chinatown traditions.
The city's school board was de­centralized
3 years ago into 32 local
independent districts. Last Septem­ber,
Community School Board Dis­trict
1, covering 20 elementary and
junior high schools in the Lower
East Side, became the first to opt for
a food service separate from the
central board.
A food committee was established
in each school, with four-sided rep­resentation
from parents, students,
administrators, and lunchroom per­sonnel.
The committees were asked to de­cide
what kind of lunch program
they wanted.
The ground rule was that all
lunches had to meet USDA guide­lines
for a Type A lunch, so that the
district would be eligible for finan­cial
aid, donated food and equip­ment
assistance from FNS.
At that time, the four junior high
and 16 elementary schools in the
area had four food arrangements:
bulk frozen food sent in by an in­dependent
company, individual fro-food
and nutrition
zen pre-packed meals, "soup and
sandwich" lunches from the central
board, and limited in-school cook­ing.
The parents wanted fresh, hot,
cooked food for all, with some
dishes representing ethnic tastes.
They suggested particular dishes and
the recipes for them.
Student preferences were ob­tained
from school surveys under­taken
as class projects. The children
wanted foods reflecting their ethnic
backgrounds, as well as the always­popular
hamburger, hot dog, pizza,
and hero sandwich.
The committees decided to em­ploy
an outside food service man­agement
firm, a small and growing
concern that offered the greatest
flexibility.
Food is purchased just one month
in advance, based on feedback from
the previous month.
The "satellite" method of prepara­tion
is best suited to present facili­ties.
Main dish entrees are prepared
in large serving trays in the five
schools with big kitchens, and de­livered
daily ("satellited") to the
other schools where they are kept
hot until lunchtime. Most side dishes
are prepared in each school. Only
four schools have not yet been
brought into the new program.
Hiring 30 local residents to aug­ment
the kitchen staffs and local
firms to supply delivery trucks gave
community involvement a boost.
Lunch was launched in February,
with an ethnic meal planned once a
week, according to the "community
menu" worked out by the food com­mittees.
The ethnic groups repre­sented
are Puerto Rican (with 73
percent of district enrollment), black
(15 percent), and Chinese (8 per­cent).
Possibly some meals will be
geared toward the remaining 4 per­cent,
a conglomeration of Jewish,
Polish, Rumanian, Irish, and Italian
extraction.
USDA-donated chicken, turkey,
rice, chopped beef, beans, and other
items are used in the ethnic meals.
Also, donated foods used in regular
lunches help offset the cost of spe­cial
spices and foods purchased for
ethnic dishes.
The program's flexibility has been
october 1973
a definite advantage. For example,
when the first Chinese lunch was
served, the non-Chinese children,
especially the younger ones, would
not eat the chow mein because of
its strange-looking bean sprouts.
The next time, the menu was
changed to roast pork fried rice,
along with an egg roll, pineapple,
and fortune cookie.
Food education has helped in­crease
student acceptance of new
foods. Every teacher, parent, and
child receives a copy of the monthly
menu, which is printed in English,
Spanish, and Chinese. They are
urged to discuss the foods and their
nutritional benefits.
Teachers get a letter pointing out
the dates of ethnic meals, with a
suggestion to show their classes a
sample tray to familiarize them with
unusual foods. Junior high home
economics classes cook dishes using
school lunch recipes and make rec­ommendations
on changes.
The second Chinese meal was a
resounding success; a follow-up sur­vey
indicated that 95 percent of all
students liked it. The meal appealed
to Chinese students, and introduced
other children to new foods.
An unexpected benefit was that
fortune cookies turned out to be a
teaching tool for reading, since there
ensued avid comparing of every­body's
fortune!
Since the program began, an in­crease
in participation has been ac­companied
by a dramatic decrease
in plate waste. About 12,000 of the
15,000 students in the district take
part in the lunch program. Most
non-participants are older pupils
who go home to eat.
About 6,000 children also receive
breakfast in school. An ethnic flavor
has been incorporated here, too,
with dishes such as Spanish-style
farina (made with vanilla extract,
sugar, and cinnamon).
The multi-ethnic approach to
school feeding has quickly taken
root with Community School Board
District 1. By providing meals that
bring a bit of home to school for
some students, and add to the edu­cation
of others, the lunch program
takes its place as an integral part of
local life. i;r
UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE
Division of Public Documents, Washington, D.C. 20402
POSTAGE [I)
Official Business.
Penalty for Private Use, $300
EARLL. BUTZ
Secretary of Agriculture
CLAYTON YEUTTER
Assistant Secretary of Agriculture
EDWARD J. HEKMAN
Administrator
Food and Nutrition Service
JANICE A. KERN, Editor
MARCIA B. EDDiNS, Art Director
FOOD AND NUTRITION is published
bimonthly by the Food and Nutrition
Service, U.S. Department of Agricul­ture,
,Washington, D.C. 20250. The
use of funds for printing this publica­tion
, was approved by the Director
of the Office of Management and
Budget December 4, 1970. Yearly
subscription is $2.00 domestic, $2.50
foreign. Single copies 45 cents each.
Subscription orders should be sent to
the Superintendent of Documents,
Government Printing Office, Wash­ington,
D.C. 20402.
Reference to commercial products
and services does not imply endorse­ment
or discrimination by the De­partment
of Agriculture.
Prints of photos may be obtained
from Photo Library, U.S. Department
of Agriculture, Washington, D.C.
20250.
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
& FEES PAID
U.S. DEPT.
OF
AGRICULTURE U.S.MAIL
AGR 101
THIRD CLASS BLK. RT.
Permit Number .005-5
2 Strengthening School Food Service
I A Look At High Schools
I Two Ways to Make Lunch Fun
12 Cashiers Learn How Food Stamps Work
II Nursery Helps Food Stamp Clients
IQ Type A-The Ethnic Way
-C! U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE: 1973-0-511·855/ 6