Food & Nutrition [Volume 17, Number 4]

              October 1987 Volume 17 Number 4 ~l J f\ N 0 ;) '9 8 8
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. Using
Resources
An Interview With
FNS Administrator
Anna·Kondratas
U.s. Department of Agriculture food
assistance programs help millions of
low-income Americans every year.
While these programs go a long way
toward achieving their specific, nutri­tion-
related objectives, they are part of
a larger welfare system that has be­come
complex, overlapping, and con­fusing,
and may well be contributing to
the establishment of a permanent
"underclass."
Currently, the Administration and
both Houses of Congress are trying to
determine what reforms are needed to
help low-income families out of poverty
and into productive employment, while
providing necessary nutritional and
financial support.
In the following interview, Anna
Kondratas, the new administrator of
USDA's Food and Nutrition Service
(FNS), discusses welfare and food as­sistance
issues. She also talks about
her background and the priorities she
has set for the agency.
Kondratas came to FNS in Septem­ber
1986 to supervise research and
policy analysis on legislative,
budgetary, and management issues re­lating
to the food assistance programs.
She became acting administrator in
March 1987 and administrator in June.
Kondratas has a long history of interest
in welfare policy and other social is­sues.
Before coming to USDA, she
was a senior researcher on health and
welfare policy issues at the Heritage
Foundation in Washington, D.C.
She has also held positions as
economist and teacher. She has pub­lished
many articles on poverty, wel­fare,
and entitlement reform and has
been a frequent public speaker on
these issues. Out of the Poverty Trap,
a book she co-authored, was published
in October.
Since becoming FNS administrator,
2
Kondratas has traveled to many areas
of the country and met with the officials
who run the food assistance programs
at the state and local levels. a . Ms. Kondratas, you have ex-
• tensive experience in research
and analysis of social programs.
Can you tell us how this experience
led you to the Food and Nutrition
Service?
A. Before I came to FNS, I had been
• doing research on our welfare
system for a book on welfare reform.
My co-author and I were particularly in­terested
in the genesis and develop­ment
of the Great Society programs.
We wanted to understand why the
poverty rate started stagnating just as
these programs were rapidly expand­ing.
We concluded that while the Great
Society had laudable goals, it pro­duced
a system that could never re­duce
poverty appreciably and was
difficult to change.
I remain confident in that analysis of
the problems that confront us. I'm also
confident that the most beneficial solu­tions
will develop from a rational, com­mon-
sense approach to those
problems.
Of course, ideas need testing and
tempering in the real world. I saw the
offer to join the Food and Nutrition
Service as an opportunity to serve and
to learn. Experience with assistance
programs is invaluable as we seek a
practical path toward welfare reform. a . How has your experience and
• also, perhaps, your back­ground,
helped shape your philoso­phy
for social policy?
A. My background as an immigrant
• certainly has had an influence on
my thinking. My parents, both of whom
worked in factories for many years, in­stilled
in their children a healthy appre­ciation
for the political freedom and
opportunity in this country. I grew up
with a faith in democratic capitalism
and the uniqueness of America.
From my early Catholic education I
gained a social conscience, as well as
an understanding of the role of strong
values in personal success. My subse­quent
education, in addition to my
teaching and other work experience,
contributed substantially to the world
view I hold today.
I believe our society should be com­mitted
to social justice, political free­dom,
and opportunity for all. But I
reject the idea that income redistribu­tion
for its own sake is justice, or that
centralized statist welfare programs
are a solution. I also believe that it is
not only possible, but critical, to formu­late
compassionate policies that are
based on dispassionate analysis. Mis­placed
emotionalism is the enemy of
true compassion. a. Critics have argued that this
• Administration has concen­trated
on carrying out a budget pol­icy
at the expense of social policy.
How would you respond?
A . First let me say that I endorse the
• Administration 's economic and
budget policy goals wholeheartedly.
Now let me add that budget policy
should not drive-or substitute for­sound
economic and social policy.
Cutting federal spending is clearly an
urgent priority. Any Administration­conservative
or liberal-would be fac-
Food and Nutrition
ing the same climate of severe
budgetary restraint. But where, and
how, and why we cut is also important.
I do feel strongly that we in the Ad­ministration
must redouble our efforts
to explain our social policy goals to the
American public. We must convey our
firm belief that an unbridled welfare
state destroys opportunities for the
poor and entrenches them in poverty.
To erase the perception that our so­cial
policy has suffered because of our
budget policy, we must clarify our pol­icy
goals and provide convincing alter­natives
to the system we now have.
And we must do this despite our under­standing
that even the most rational
policy proposals are subject to compro­mise
in the congressional budget
process. a . In light of your experience and
• philosophy, how would you
assess the effectiveness of USDA's
food assistance programs?
October 1987
A• The food assistance programs go
• a long way toward alleviating the
symptoms of poverty. There is no
doubt that they provide a nutritional
safety net for low-income people.
There should also be no doubt about
the continuing federal commitment to
providing food assistance when you
look at the scope of these programs­both
in participation and funding.
In fiscal year 1986, for example, the
Food Stamp Program alone served
over 19 million people at a cost of
$11.5 billion. More than 23 million chil­dren
participated daily in the National
School Lunch Program at a cost of
$3.5 billion.
The Special Supplemental Food Pro­gram
for Women, Infants, and Children
(WIG) reached more than 3 million par­ticipants
and was funded at $1.5 bil­lion.
And nearly $1 billion worth of food
was distributed to 15 million partici­pants
through the Temporary Emer­gency
Food Assistance Program
(TEFAP).
Overall, the federal government
spent 41 .5 percent more on food pro­grams
in 1986 than it did in 1980.
If I look beyond these substantial
numbers, however, I must question
how well the programs encourage in­dependence
and provide a ladder out
of poverty. The food programs are, in
fact, part of a larger welfare system
that has done little, until very recently,
to discourage dependency and offer
oppq_rtunity.
There are also questions of effi­ciency.
Yes, we've improved the nutri­tional
status of many of the poor. But
can we do better? Can we target bene­fits
better? Can we further reduce
waste and abuse?
Can we provide assistance to the
poor in a more useful form? (Can the
homeless use 5-pounds blocks of
cheese? Do food stamps better assure
good nutrition than cash?) Can we
eliminate overlapping benefits, or dif-
3
During a conference sponsored by FNS'
Mid-Atlantic Regional Office (MARO), Ad­ministrator
Kondratas (left) and MARO
Supplemental Food Program Director Pat
Dombroski look at an exhibit on WIC.
programs began with a specific pur­pose.
However, while social problems
keep changing, the programs remain
rigid.
If, for example, neither food stamps
nor 5-pound blocks of cheese (dis­tributed
under TEFAP) is the most ra­tional
way of providing food assistance
to the homeless, then it doesn't make
sense to add regulations and money to
the Food Stamp Program and TEFAP.
We simply end up making those pro­grams
more complex and expensive
without really addressing the needs of
the homeless.
Another example: The American
Public Welfare Association, among
others, have suggested food stamp
[
==============-------------- cDaesphe-noduet nfot rC thheild Areidn t(oA FFaDmCi)l iepso pwuitlah -
tion. With the proper safeguards, this is
a sensible approach to test. Yet there
ferent programs, that serve the same
population?
Whatever success we have
achieved with our food assistance pro­grams-
and it has been significant­there
is certainly room for improve­ment.
a . Current welfare reform efforts
• can be seen as a means for
making better use of available re­sources.
How will these efforts af­fect
the food assistance programs?
A• Real welfare reform will not sim­•
ply be making better use of avail­able
resources. Welfare should be
viewed in the broader context of the
struggle against poverty. Income trans­fers
can alleviate poverty in the short
term, but not in the long term unless
they are part of programs that enable
people to become self-sufficient.
The implications for food assistance
programs are twofold. The first is organ-
4
ization. Many of our nutrition pro­grams
have multiple goals. WIG has a
strong health component; school
lunches serve more than the poor;
commodity programs also have an ag­ricultural
purpose.
Moreover, the goal of assisting the
low-income population overlaps with
the programs of other departments­Health
and Human Services, Housing
and Urban Development, Education, to
name just a few .
In the short run then, FNS needs to
coordinate its own programs, so that
services with a similar purpose and for
a similar population, like the Com­modity
Supplemental Food Program
and WIG, do not overlap or leave gap­ing
holes and confusion.
FNS also needs to continue to coor­dinate
with other agencies to simplify
the maze of eligibility requirements and
regulations facing caseworkers and re­cipients.
The second implication of welfare re­form
for food assistance programs is a
re-evaluation of purpose. Each of our
is political resistance to change, partly
because of the protective coalitions
that have grown around each program.
We must think in creative terms if we
want to make significant changes. We
should give states more flexibility in de­veloping
programs to suit the unique
circumstances of their populations.
The Administration's major welfare
reform proposal, the Low-Income Op­portunity
Act of 1987, would provide
the framework for just such a creative
approach while guaranteeing that there
would be no retreat from present gains.
Unfortunately, there is currently little
political momentum behind that legisla­tion.
The major welfare reform vehicles
in the House and Senate, in spite of
general agreement on the changed
purpose of welfare, would do little more
than make incremental changes and
increase spending. These bills would
have very little effect on the nature and
effectiveness of our food assistance
programs. a . How will such changes affect
• the people who receive pro­gram
benefits?
Food and Nutrition
A. We all know the welfare system is
• confusingly complex to recipients,
caseworkers, and taxpayers. Any at­tempt
to reduce that complexity is wel­come,
whether it is incremental
changes in programs, or computeriza­tion
that speeds the application proc­ess
and makes it more accurate, or
whatever.
In the short term, the people who re­ceive
food assistance program benefits
will probably not be significantly af­fected
by the changes. They may re­ceive
their benefits in another form­prepared
meals or cash or via
electronic transfer-but they will con­tinue
to receive benefits.
Ultimately, we must empower poor
individuals, families, and communities
to become independent of welfare.
This will not happen overnight, of
course. We have to recognize the en­trenched
nature of our welfare system
and how many people have become
dependent on it.
As a practical matter, we cannot
abolish programs without replacing
them with alternatives. But we do need
to break down the rigidity of a system
where no program can ever be abol­ished
at all, even when it obviously
doesn't work. We need to promote
ongoing re-evaluation and change.
The major problem with our welfare
system has been that it has not
provided enough incentive to poor peo­ple
to control their own lives. In that re­spect,
we've made some progress,
because most of the welfare reform
proposals being discussed today rec­ognize
the importance of giving re­sponsibility
to the poor for preparing
themselves for productive employment
and getting out of poverty.
From Washington State and Califor­nia
to Massachusetts, it is now recog­nized
that the obligations in the welfare
system are reciprocal : If society has an
obligation to the poor, the poor also
have obligations-to themselves, their
children, and society.
Government involvement in child
care assistance, workfare and work
training, child support collection, and
other recent efforts recognize the wel­fare
recipient's need for independence
and dignity and will promote accept­ance
of the need for welfare among the
October 1987
general public.
The danger is that it is easier to talk
about these new policies than to imple­ment
them. And implementing them
piecemeal so that they affect only a
small minority of welfare recipients and
even fewer of the remaining poor, will
simply not go far enough toward solv­ing
our social problems.
Decades into the War on Poverty,
we still don't have very good answers
about how government programs can
deal with rural poverty, or prevent un­wed
motherhood, or keep teenagers in
school. The Administration's welfare
reform proposal, by allowing states to
come up with creative variants to wel­fare
programs, would encourage flex­ible,
community-based responses to
the multiple problems of the poor. a . Commodity distribution is one
• of USDA's earliest food assist­ance
programs. What steps is the
Department taking to make the com­modity
program more desirable to
the states as a resource for the
school lunch program, nutrition pro­grams
for the elderly, and others?
A. I share Secretary Richard Lyng's
• commitment to improving the
USDA commodity program. It is a
unique and remarkable program, help­ing
farmers and schoolchildren, the
elderly and American Indians, the
homeless, people in institutions, and
summer campers.
Few realize just how pervasive our
commodity assistance is. In fiscal year
1986, USDA donated, through FNS
programs, 2.8 billion pounds of food
valued at $2 billion.
The commodity program serves a
dual purpose-surplus removal and
nutrition assistance. Various aspects of
the program are administered by three
different USDA agencies, as well as
state and local governments, and even
business and charitable organizations.
For these reasons, I view my par­ticipation
in the tri-agency task force
established by the Secretary as one of
my most important challenges as ad­ministrator.
The task force is composed of the
heads of the three agencies concerned
with food distribution: the Food and
Nutrition Service (FNS), the Agri­cultural
Marketing Service (AMS), and
the Agricultural Stabilization and Con­servation
Service (ASCS). It is chaired
by Deputy Secretary Peter Myers.
The very existence of the task force
means that USDA has a mechanism in
place to ensure a systematic, ongoing
review of commodity program activities
by senior level staff and policy officials.
Quarterly meetings will be conducted
to report on issues under review, re­solve
differences in approach, and
present new concerns as they are
communicated from state and local
provider administrators.
The group has already decided to in­stall
a tri-agency computer system.
The system should improve communi­cation
among the three agencies and
allow us to better respond to individual
state needs .
The task force has also determined
that a number of concerns expressed
by commodity program clients result
from a misunderstanding of USDA's
mission and a lack of information about
USDA's activities. To address these
problems, the group plans to develop a
newsletter and technical guidance ma­terials,
and provide technical assist­ance
.
The task force recommendations
demonstrate the Department's willing­ness
to promptly address the concerns
raised by users of the commodity pro­gram.
USDA has already begun to
meet the challenge of carrying out the
recommendations.
We are also working toward improv­ing
the nutritional quality of the pro­grams.
For example, we are
eliminating the addition of sugar and
salt wherever we can in the processed
items we purchase and using polyun­saturated
rather than saturated fat for
our precooked, breaded products. In
addition, we have reduced the percent­age
of fat in beef and pork to a level
that is healthier and still acceptable to
students.
The task force recognizes that im­provement
.at the federal level will
make a big difference in program oper­ation-
but federal action alone will not
solve the problems. The state distribut­ing
agencies must do their part as well.
5
To help them, we have ~veloped
standards of practice in such areas as
communication, deliveries, costs,
quality and packaging of products, and
food ordering and allocation. a . You've discussed a number of
• federal efforts to capitalize on
available resources. Since the food
assistance programs are operated
by state and local government agen­cies,
is USDA also encouraging im­provements
at those levels?
A. There are many ways in which
• FNS is encouraging improve­ments
at the state and local levels. An
example in the Food Stamp Program is
automation to reduce recipient agency
errors.
As a result of our encouragement
and assistance, almost all states are
now using computers to match wage
information to detect fraudulent or er­roneous
information from recipients.
Computers are also helping some
states process food stamp applica­tions,
as well as assist their claims col­lection
activities.
We also have been encouraging
communication among the states
through our Operation Awareness
campaign. We in FNS compile the
states' good ideas on improving pro­gram
management and then publicize
these to other states. This year Opera­tion
Awareness is focusing on local op­portunities
for improving Food Stamp
Program management.
We have a similar initiative in the
WIG program for promoting program
excellence. It is called "Focus on Man­agement."
As with Operation Aware­ness,
we are recognizing management
excellence and helping state agencies
share management technologies.
We are promoting management im­provements
in the Food Distribution
Program as well. I have already men­tioned
the standards of practice we
have drafted to help state distributing
agents improve their operations. a . In your travels as FNS admin­.•
istrator, you have talked with
state and local officials who operate
the programs. How do they see their
role?
6
A . It is evident that state and local
• officials bring a high degree of
commitment to their jobs. I have found
them eager to have open lines of com­munication
with Washington.
Administering federal programs at
the state and local level is no easy
task. The number of programs and the
mass of regulations they must adminis­ter
are staggering.
The federal government needs to
hold states and localities accountable
for the use of federal funds, of course,
but it is also vital that state and local
officials understand proposed changes
in policy and program operation, so
that they have a stake in the success
of changes.
Intergovernmental relations are too
often allowed to degenerate into an
"us" versus "them" situation. We are
all part of the same system of service
delivery-complex as it may be-and
we need to work as a team. When dif­ferences
arise, many can be worked
out cooperatively. Even when conflicts
are irreconcilable, it helps to under­stand
the other person's perspective.
Quite frankly, explaining and promot­ing
federal policies are not the only
reasons I like open communication
with state and local people. I find that I
learn a lot from them. In fact, some of
the best insights and suggestions for
changes come from the bottom up.
That's the way it should be.
In the area of welfare reform, of
course, many states are miles ahead
of the federal government. I find that
both hopeful and exciting. a . Finally, Ms. Kondratas, what
• are your priorities during your
tenure as FNS Administrator?
A . My highest priority is to keep
• sight constantly of the goals of
FNS programs. It takes a lot of wheels
and cogs to keep the machinery of ad­ministration
running.
Sometimes it is easy to get bogged
down in tinkering here and there, to be­come
obsessed with trivia and bu­reaucratic
battles, and to adjust to the
frustrating slowness of bureaucratic
channels and procedures. It is impor­tant
for the agency not to lose ·a sense
of purpose.
Second, I want to seek the proper
balance among the various mandates
of the agency-in nutrition, agriculture,
and welfare-and make sure these are
complementary and not competing
goals.
I would, of course, like FNS to play
an important role in the continuing wel­fare
reform debate and to increase
popular support for new approaches to
eliminating dependency on welfare­including
work programs and new
demonstration projects.
There are also a number of priorities
in management initiatives. I support the
continued computerization of the
agency. This is extremely important for
a variety of reasons.
We have sustained a 30-percent de­crease
in personnel over the last 7
years, with essentially no decrease in
responsibilities and the addition of sev­eral
new programs. If we are to main­tain
accountability and program
integrity, we must modernize and up­grade
our accounting and financial
management systems, as well as pro­gram
operations.
I would also like to mention that I
have found FNS employees to be dedi­cated
, hard-working, and responsive to
leadership. I am very grateful for their
collective knowledge and institutional
memory. The continuity they provide is
important for effective management,
and their support is absolutely essen­tial
to implement change.
Eventually, Congress may enact
larger and more significant changes in
income-support programs-there are
not many who think that the programs
in place today are the best that we can
do. I am confident FNS will be recep­tive
to changes that offer real hope for
improving the overall welfare system.
In the meantime, I think my respon­sibil
ity is to be a good steward of the
programs we have. I hope to make
sure that they are managed as effi­ciently
and effectively as possible and
that we make them as flexible and re­sponsive
to the people they serve as
the law allows.
interview by Debbie Massey
photos by Larry Rana
Food and Nutrition
True or false: When it comes to food
shopping, people with higher incomes
tend to get more nutritional value for
their dollar than people with less to
spend.
False, says Ann Chadwick, director
of USDA's Office of the Consumer
Advisor.
"Studies have shown that people
with limited income tend to get more
nutrients, dollar for dollar, than those at
higher levels. Just because people
have more money to spend does not
necessarily mean they make the wisest
choices."
All of us need help in acquiring and
sharpening skills in selecting nutritious
foods within our budgets, Chadwick
says. "We are not born with these skills.
We have to develop them. But low­income
people need the most help in
selecting the best nutritional buys
because there is less flexibility in their
resources. "
Providing that extra help has been
the goal of a national food buying proj­ect,
called "Make Your Food Dollars
Count," which is now in its fourth year.
A joint effort of USDA's Food and
Nutrition Service (FNS), Human Nutri­tion
Information Service (HNIS), and
the Cooperative Extension Service, the
Make Your Food Dollars Count
(MYFDC) project is helping low-income
people learn some guidelines and skills
that help them plan ahead, shop
smarter, and put economical but nour­ishing
meals on their families' tables.
MYFDC evolved from a prototype
project developed by the Northeast
regional office of the Food and Nutri­tion
Service.
October 1987
For a MYFDC workshop in Cleveland, USDA's Ann
Chadwick (center) and two area homemakers, Sandy
Hinegardner and Marlene Hunter, compa ~e prices at
three local stores.
In 1983, seven regional workshops
were held in cities throughout the
country to draw attention to local nutri­tion
resources and the need to provide
food buying information to food stamp
participants and others on limited
budgets. Each regional workshop gen­erated
additional state and local work­shops
and a variety of nutrition
education activities.
Project materials
widely distributed
USDA developed a variety of mate­rials
for the MYFDC project, and they
are still bein\J used widely throughout
the country. As George Braley, deputy
administrator for special nutrition pro­grams
for FNS, explains, some mate­rials
were targeted to professionals
working with food assistance partici-
7
pants, but most were targeted to par­ticipants
themselves.
"Our goal," he says, "has been first
to provide health professionals, para­professionals,
social service workers,
and community leaders with essential
program aids, and second to provide
something tangible that low-income
participants in workshops or one-on­one
activities can take home with them
as a reminder of what they just
learned."
The 1983 booklet called "Making
Food Dollars Count-Nutritious Meals
at a Low Cost" was the starting point.
The booklet included sample meal
plans, with 2 weeks of menus, recipes,
and shopping lists for three meals and
a snack per day for a family of four per­sons.
The plans were developed by
USDA based on cost information, food
consumption surveys, and national die­tary
guidelines.
The sample food plans had been
evaluated in a 1982 test in which food
stamp households of various back­grounds
shopped for and prepared
meals as suggested.
Targeted to needs
of participants
In 1984, FNS developed a variety of
additional materials for use in teaching
food stamp participants. They included:
• A project guide with suggestions
on conducting workshops and distribut­ing
materials.
• Two full-color posters in English
and Spanish emphasizing the themes
"Buy Better" and "Eat Better."
• Four pamphlets, in English and
Spanish, with single topic messages,
such as "Convenience Foods Save
Time But Can Cost More" and "Plan
Ahead to Make Your Food Dollars
Count." The pamphlets, each of which
had two messages, included tips on
such things as using unit prices and
reading food labels to make smart
choices, finding the best meat buys,
and eating a variety of foods. (These
are known as Series I pamphlets.)
• Newspaper reproducibles of the
pamphlet messages in English and
Spanish. These were distributed to
8
newspaper food editors throughout the
country.
• A 121/2-minute slide-tape show
with information from the pamphlets
and additional tips on shopping for low­cost,
nutritious meals. A narrative
guide was included.
New messages for the outside back
covers of food stamp coupon booklets
were also developed.
In 1985, USDA developed "Thrifty
Meals for Two-Making Food Dollars
Count" especial ly for older couples on
a limited budget. This 69-page guide
on how to shop for and prepare hearty,
nutritious, and economical meals
included menus and recipes.
In 1986, four more pamphlets were
developed and distributed. Three
included tips on how to buy, store, and
prepare fruits, vegetables, and
legumes; recipes were included. The
fourth suggested ways to use less
sugar, fat, and sodium. All four pam­phlets
(known as Series II) were in
English and Spanish.
The MYFDC publications were
developed and printed for free distribu­tion
to low-income people taking part in
the Food Stamp Program and to Food
Stamp Program cooperators. They
have also been used by other food pro­gram
participants, such as people who
have received USDA-donated foods
Ann Chadwick (right) and Sandy Hinegard­ner
make their selections using a list pre­pared
in advance as a general guide.
Food and Nutrition
through TEFAP (the Temporary
Emergency Food Assistance Program)
and WIG (the Special Supplemental
Food Program for Women, Infants, and
Children.)
While free distribution of these
educational materials is limited to food
assistance participants and program
cooperators, the general public may
purchase them.
Posters ($3.50 each) and Series I
pamphlets ($2.00 per set) are available
from the Government Printing Office,
Washington, D.C. 20402. Series II
pamphlets (50 cents per set) are avail­able
from the Consumer Information
Center, Pueblo, Colorado 81009.
The slide-tape show with narrative
guide can be purchased for $24.50
FNS Midwest region nutritionist Robert
Dean (right) discusses store pricing poli­cies
with the store's consumer advisor
Norma Wade (left) and assistant store
manager Rick Simon.
October 1987
from USDA's Photo Division, Office of
Information, 14th and Independence
Avenue, S.W., South Building, Room
4007, Washington, D.C. 20250.
Project continues
in many areas
The Food and Nutrition Service con­tinues
to host MYFDC workshops
across the country. This past July, for
example, FNS' Midwest regional office
hosted a workshop in Cleveland.
Prior to the workshop, Midwest
regional FNS nutritionist Robert Dean
and USDA consumer advisor Ann
Chadwick visited three neighborhood
stores to compare prices and shop for
food using USDA meal plans.
Similar market basket demonstra­tions
have been part of all regional
MYFDC workshops. USDA representa-tives
prepare a basic list in advance,
then buy a week's groceries, making
adjustments as they shop, according to
what is available and what are the
best buys.
The goal is to buy one week's food
using USDA's Thrifty Food Plan sug­gested
cost guideline, which was in
July $62.54 for a family of four.
The market basket is displayed at
the MYFDC workshop, along with a list
of purchases and prices, and is used to
explain how families can shop for well­balanced,
nourishing meals on a lim­ited
budget.
Helps shoppers
realize savings
" In my opinion, the Make Your Food
Dollars Count project fills a real need in
helping low-income shoppers become
aware of the savings that can be real­ized
by shopping wisely and comparing
9
prices between supermarkets," says
Robert Dean.
"For the project, I have shopped in
two dozen or so supermarkets in seven
Midwest cities since 1983. I have noted
differences of $10 to $12 dollars on
total purchases between stores,"
he says.
Dean and Chadwick shopped with
two low-income Cleveland home­makers
at three neighborhood stores
prior to the July workshop. Both
women were surprised by what they
learned.
"I couldn't believe the stores in our
area could vary so greatly for one
item-20 cents on a package of gela­tin
," says Sandy Hinegardner, mother
of two teenagers.
Marlene Hunter, who heads a family
of three children, aged 5, 6, and 9,
agrees. " It was a great experience,"
she says. "By shopping at three stores,
I could see how different prices were."
The cost differences were signifi­cant.
"Items totaled $58.11 at the first
store, which offered good buys, many
store brands, and generics. The sec­ond
store was highest at just over $67.
It did not offer any generic brands and
had few size choices," says Dean.
Groceries were $62.62 at the third
store, which donated its market basket
for display at the workshop. The foods
in the basket were later given to the
shoppers who participated in the cost
survey.
Norma Wade, consumer advisor for
the third store, believes careful shop­ping
can make a difference. "We have
to use menus and shopping lists as a
guide and take advantage of sales and
seasonal items," she says.
" If I were shopping or instructing
someone else in shopping, I would
advise, for example, buying an on-sale
rump roast, which has little fat and no
bone, instead of a regularly priced
chuck roast which has bone. It would
be a better buy."
Wade cautions shoppers to avoid
waste. "Avoiding waste means using
everything you buy," she says. Pur­chasing
larger quantities and freezing
leftovers can be a good way to save.
Wade also cautions to be careful not
to include nonfood items such as
soaps and cleaning and paper prod­ucts
when calculating food dollars.
As more and more convenience
10
foods become available, it's helpful for
shoppers to consider extra costs that
can be involved in having someone
else do the work.
" It's especially important that the
MYFDC project be made available to
young homemakers who lack experi­ence
in shopping wisely and do not
realize the real cost of T.V.-type din­ners,
many prepared foods, and soft
drinks," says Dean.
Reaching people
who need help
The success of the MYFDC project
depends on finding ways to get educa­tional
materials developed by USDA to
people who can use them at the state
and local levels.
At the Cleveland workshop, repre­sentatives
of several state and local
agencies-such as the Cuyahoga
County area WIC program, the area
agency on aging, the food stamp
agency, Head Start, the Community
Volunteers Action Center, and the
Expanded Food and Nutrition Educa­tion
Program (EFNEP) formed an infor­mation-
sharing network.
During the conference, a number of
people reported on techniques they're
using to help low-income people
stretch their food dollars.
Through EFNEP, for example, nutri­tion
aides have been teaching basic
nutrition and shopping skills to low­income
families in their homes in the
Cleveland area for more than 18 years.
Last year, in Cuyahoga County,
EFNEP tried a new approach to reach
groups of eight or more homemakers
in community settings and offered the
same basic type of information taught
by a home economist.
" All homemakers who complete the
course receive a certificate of recogni­tion
from Ohio State University," says
Cuyahoga County Cooperative Exten­sion
dietitian Bonnie Chirayath. ''This is
strong motivation. The program has
been evaluated and proven to actually
change people's food habits. People
select better diets after the education."
Chirayath says the MYFDC cam­paign
has been a boost to cooperative
education efforts in Cleveland.
Materials used
in variety of ways
The MYFDC materials are used in a
variety of ways and in various settings.
In Illinois, EFNEP coordinator
Soneeta Grogan says her office not
only uses MYFDC brochures in the
eight area EFNEP offices, but dis­tributes
the materials to all county
Extension offices. "Extension home
economists have a great demand for
these brochures," she says.
Because of Illinois' large Hispanic
population, especially in the Chicago
area, Grogan worked with the Univer­sity
of Illinois several years ago to
develop a Spanish translation of the
MYFDC slide show script.
In Champaign County, Illinois,
EFNEP advisor Karen Gehrt used
MYFDC materials in a MYFDC home­maker
contest. "We wanted to demon­strate
that the Thrifty Food Plan
works," she says.
Gehrt obtained the support of sev­eral
local grocery stores, and recruited
about 30 homemakers. "We had to find
homemakers who were willing to keep
records of grocery receipts and
planned menus," she says. "The
homemakers also had to agree to a
monthly consultation with an EFNEP
paraprofessional nutrition advisor.
"We publicized the kick-off of the
contest," Gehrt says, "as well as the
announcement of first, second, and
third place winners who achieved the
lowest average monthly budgets and
the best planned menus. The par­ticipating
grocery stores then awarded
prizes of groceries to the winners."
Also helping with
other programs
Warren Boyd, policy consultant with
the Indiana Department of Public Wel­fare,
coordinates distribution of
MYFDC materials to all 92 Indiana ·
county welfare offices.
"The materials are really useful ," he
says. "They're short enough-not too
wordy-so that people who are not
highly educated are able to read and
understand them ," says Boyd.
"Usually, in a public assistance pro­gram,
the emphasis is on getting the
participant benefits-such as AFDC or
food stamps-but MYFDC goes
beyond that. It shows the participant
and the public a different side of the
public assistance story. Beyond provid­ing
just benefits, we're also providing a
useful service."
Illinois WIC nutritionist Gloria Singer
says MYFDC information materials are
Food and Nutrition
October 1987
an important part of nutrition efforts in
the WIC program.
"WIC nutritionists are adapting the
recipes and using ideas from the
MYFDC project guide in their nutrition
education classes," she says.
Also, during the past year, WIC nutri­tionists
have been previewing MYFDC
slides and audio-tapes. "Four sets of
MYFDC slides and tapes are being
rotated throughout the state," Singer
says.
The brochures are especially helpful,
she adds. "They are pertinent, attrac­tive,
and easy to read."
A 1986 nutrition education survey of
Illinois WIC participants showed that
the majority of respondents felt learn­ing
about nutrition was very important.
The most interesting topic to partici­pants
was "how to save money on
food, " and the preferred way of learn­ing
was through pamphlets, audio­visuals,
and food demonstrations.
Local efforts are
very important
Getting feedback from participants is
an important part of any educational
effort. The role of local agencies in this,
as in every part of the MYFDC project,
has been crucial.
"USDA recognizes that the efforts of
local agencies who carry out the initia­tives
set forth by the Make Your Food
Dollars Count project are the most
important," says consumer advisor
Chadwick. "Community workers know
and understand the needs."
The need for providing food buying
information is clear to nutrition educa­tors
like Extension dietitian Bonnie
Chirayath.
"We all agree low-income families
are helped by the extra food dollars
they get from the Food Stamp Pro­gram,"
she says. "But we also believe
that if this help is accompanied with
education, people make better and
more healthful choices for their
families."
For more information, contact:
Joseph Shepherd, Director
Nutrition and Technical Services
Food and Nutrition Service
U.S. Department of Agriculture
Alexandria, Virginia 22302
article and photos
by Mary Jane Gettinger
...
...
A Look At An
Award-Winning
J n a management improvement effort
known as "Focus on Management,"
federal, state, and local WIC managers
are looking at ways to achieve several
key goals.
One is targeting WIC benefits to
high-risk mothers and children, who
are most in need of WIC services.
Another is integrating WIC with other
health services and combining appro­priate
records to make following partici­pants'
progress easier and more
effective.
Still other goals are better managing
administrative costs and improving
vendor management by making sure
food stores authorized to accept WIC
vouchers are carefully selected,
trained , and monitored.
For 13 years, WIG-officially known
as the Special Supplemental Food Pro­gram
for Women, Infants, and Chil­dren-
has been providing food and
nutrition education to low-income
mothers and children whose health
may be jeopardized because of inade­quate
diet.
Through Focus on Management
WIC managers are taking a closer look
at what works best at the state and
local levels and sharing information on
successful approaches.
The f ollowing article looks at Penn­sylvania's
WIC vendor management
program, for which the state has
received national recognition.
12
Program
Special training helps vendors understand
how WIC works. Here, Vanessa Mosee,
vendor manager for Philadelphia WIC
91118
agency North, Inc., shows a group of ven­dors
what information is included on WIC
participants' identification cards.
Food and Nutrition
Pennsylvania
Is A Leader In
WICVendor
Management
Food retailers play a vital role in
lriaking WIG work. By stocking the
appropriate WIG foods and exchanging
them for participants' vouchers, they
help make sure mothers and children
get the food they need for good health.
The majority of food stores are eager
to follow program rules. But those who
overcharge for WIG foods, exchange
vouchers for cash, or sell unapproved
or nonfood items, tap program
resources.
In Pennsylvania, a relatively new
vendor management system is
ensuring that WIG food dollars benefit
only participants. Limiting the number
of stores authorized to accept WIG
vouchers is an important part of the
new system.
October 1987
Authorized stores
carefully selected
"We felt that giving food stores open
access to the program, which means
no standards of performance or
desired qualifications, did not result in
the best service to participants or the
most effective use of food dollars,"
says Mike Schappell, retail store coor­dinator
for the Pennsylvania Depart­ment
of Health.
" In the past, Pennsylvania did not
have a strong vendor program, but
since we began limiting vendors
2 years ago, we've eliminated a lot
of problems."
To put the new system into effect,
Pennsylvania officials estimated the
number of vendors needed to provide
adequate service to the approximately
150,000 participants the state serves
monthly. Geographic features and par­ticipation
totals were used to arrive at a
ratio of one vendor for every 75 par­ticipants.
Sixty-five of 181 vendors who
applied last year were not authorized
either because the number of vendors
in their service area exceeded the
state's new participant-vendor ratio or
because they did not meet standards
for participation.
During the past few years, Pennsyl­vania
has reduced the number of
vendors by 24 percent, without causing
any undue hardship to participants.
"Using limitation criteria has allowed
the state agency to better control the
vendor population," says Pat
Dombroski, regional WIG director for
the Mid-Atlantic regional office of t~e
Food and Nutrition Service (FNS)1 the
federal agency that administers the
program nationally. "Pennsylvania tai­lors
the vendor population to program
and participant needs." l
In addition to federal approval, the
state has also won support for its crite­ria
system from vendors and the Penn­sylvania
Food Merchants Association.
In fact, the retailer group assisted in
developing the poi[cies.
Performance and
prices are factors
With experience, Pennsylvania WIG
managers have modified and refined
the limitation criteria to accurately iden­tify
fluctuations in the number of
vendors needed. They've also identi-
13
fied vendor characteristics that corre­late
with business integrity, exceptional
service, and low probability of abuse.
A store must have fair prices, a vari­ety
of food items, and, when applica­ble,
a good past performance as a WIG
vendor to be selected or to remain in
the program.
"Selection criteria insure that a store
has competitive food prices, is sani­tary,
properly stores food, and meets
minimum requirements for inventory
and operating hours," says Schappell.
Considerable research goes into
evaluating competitive prices. Pennsyl­vania
collects prices from all vendor
applicants at the same time and com­pares
vendors' price to one another.
Price comparison has contributed
significantly in reducing the cost of
WIG foods. In Pennsylvania, the aver­age
monthly cost of WIG foods is
$26.40 per participant, $5.43 below the
national average.
14
State managers have found chain
store prices for WIG foods to be the
lowest and operators the least likely to
abuse the program. Sixty-two percent
of the 1, 700 WIG vendors in Pennsyl­vania
are chain stores.
Monitoring is
also important
Each state's WIG program is
required to monitor a certain percent­age
of its food vendors to be sure they
are not abusing the program. Pennsyl­vania's
new system makes monitoring
and sanctioning more effective in sev­eral
ways.
"Because Pennsylvania has a man­ageable
number of vendors, it monitors
them at an acceptable rate and covers
monitoring costs," says FNS'
Dombroski. "This enables the state to
more actively pursue sanctioning those
vendors who do abuse the program."
A vendor can be disqualified from
the WIG program for from 1 to 3 years
depending on the nature and extent of
abuse. A civil money penalty also may
be assessed.
"Pennsylvania was the second state
in the nation to establish a civil money
penalty policy for sanctioning abusive
vendors," says Dombroski.
In deciding whether to disqualify a
vendor, state officials consider whether
the vendor is needed to meet partici­pants'
needs in a particular area. If so,
they may impose a civil money penalty
in lieu of disqualifying the vendor from
the program.
Vendors who are sanctioned have
the option to appeal through a fair
hearing. Pennsylvania won 93 percent
of the appeals made last year, showing
that the monitoring system is success­ful
in identifying grocers who should be
sanctioned.
An added bonus is that the system
saves money. Since it's less costly to
monitor a set number of carefully
selected vendors, Pennsylvania has
been able to channel operating funds
to other administrative areas.
Training helps
prevent abuses
While monitoring and sanctioning
are useful tools, state managers feel
the best way to protect program dollars
is to prevent abuses before they occur.
To do this, they provide ongoing train­ing
to all WIG vendors, who are
required by their contracts to attend
training on program regulations.
"Since 1986, all approved WIG
vendors have been required to attend
one training session each fiscal year in
order to maintain their authorization,"
says Schappell.
During vendor training sessions at North,
Inc., Vanessa Mosee {left) and assistant
Linda Stokes (page 15) use a variety of
materials, including a display of foods that
can be purchased with WIC vouchers.
Food and Nutrition
"We've developed special training
aids, such as a videotape, to show
vendors exactly what foods are
allowed and how to process and
redeem food vouchers."
The materials also explain what
instructions local WIG staff give partici­pants
to help them understand how to
use WIG vouchers.
During the training, local agency
instructors emphasize the nutritional
aspect of WIG. They explain that par­ticipants
receive specific foods, such
as milk, juice, eggs, cereal , cheese,
peanut butter, and infant formula, for
health reasons and that nutrition
education is also provided.
"Vendors don't always understand
the importance of not allowing partici­pants
to buy non-WIG food items,"
says Schappell. "We tell them we are
spending millions of dollars in federal
and state funds in their grocery stores
and to consider this an investment in
October 1987
children's health."
Vendors are asked for their com­ments
after completing the training.
"The overall response from the
vendors has been positive," says
Schappell. "They have said the training
sessions are long overdue."
Innovations make
state a leader
Pennsylvania has received national
recognition as a leader in vendor
management.
During the fourth annual conference
of the national WIG directors last
March, Assistant Secretary of Agricul­ture
John W. Bode presented awards
to six WIG agencies that exhibited
excellence in managing the program.
Pennsylvania was honored that day
for "setting clear standards for select­ing
WIG program food vendors and
monitoring their performance, thereby
achieving better service to participants
at a lower cost."
Working more closely with vendors
has made a big difference. "We have
had more success with vendors in the
past 1 to 2 years because we've been
more visible to them," says Mike
Schappell. "We require more of them,
and we make sure they understand the
program."
For more information, contact:
Mike Schappell
Retail Store Coordinator
Pennsylvania Department of Health
Division of Special Food Programs
P.O. Box 90
Health and Welfare Building
Harrisburg, F4ennsylvania 17108
Telephone: (717) 783-1289
article and photos
by Marian Wig
15
USDA Food
Helps Schools Serve
First-Rate Meals
One of the most valuable resources
available to school food service direc­tors
is food donated by USDA. Com­modity
foods make up about a quarter
of all food served in school lunches,
and that adds up to big savings for
schools interested in keeping meal
prices low.
But do schools compromise quality
by using USDA-donated food? Not at
all, says Cheryl Uchida, associate di­rector
of nutrition services for Portland
Public Schools.
Like many food service managers
across the country, Uchida has been
making changes in her lunch program
in recent years to bring meals more in
line with current dietary guidelines.
She's serving a greater variety of
foods; including less salt, sugar, and
fat; and increasing the amount of fiber
and starches in meals.
Uchida uses USDA commodities ex­tensively
in her program and says do­nated
foods help her in many ways.
Changes in preparing
and serving meals
Uchida supervises the district's cen­tral
kitchen, which prepares meals for
82 elementary and secondary schools.
"With a central kitchen system, it's
easier to make sure that meals
throughout the district meet the dietary
guidelines," she says. "Since we plan
the menus, do the buying, and prepare
most of the food, we can make most of
the changes we want right here.
"One of the easiest changes we've
made is increasing the fiber in our
breads, rolls, and other baked goods,"
she explains. "We're using more and a
greater variety of the whole grains like
whole wheat, rolled wheat, rolled oats,
and bulgur in our baked products."
Food service workers at schools
help out by cutting down on the butter
put on rolls and other breads when
they're served.
16
"We asked the school cafeteria staff
to abandon the paint-brush method of
buttering the rolls, for example. Some
now leave it to students to take butter if
they want it, some drizzle a small
amount of butter onto the rolls, and
others coat the bread with an egg
wash instead of butter."
The district is using more mozzarella
cheese than ever before because of
the lower fat content. Wherever possi­ble,
in nacho cheese sauces and pizza
toppings, for instance, the district sub­stitutes
mozzarella for some of the
processed or cheddar cheeses.
USDA-donated beef is already low in
fat. However, to make lunches as lean
as possible, Uchida's staff cook com­modity
beef in large kettles and re­move
the fat before the beef is used in
recipes. Contractors supplying pre­pared
items to Portland schools do the
same with the USDA-donated beef
they process into meatballs, patties,
burritos, steaks, and meat toppings.
Salad dressings
are also low-fat
There are low-fat dressings too. For
some time, Portland staff have been
making their own ranch-style salad
dressing using commodity non-fat
dry milk.
Uchida stresses the effort the district
is making to include local school staff
in planning and training for school
lunch changes. "You have to have
their ideas, their understanding, and
their support," she says.
Many changes made in the central
kitchen rely on follow-through at the
serving sites. While the central kitchen
staff are developing lower sodium rec­ipes,
for example, school cafeteria
workers have stopped adding salt be­fore
they serve the food and are mak­ing
salt shakers less available to
students.
Variety is important and here, too,
commodities donated by USDA are
helpful. "Not only do we get a wide se­lection
of low- or no-cost nutritious
foods ," she says, "but using com­modities
as much as possible allows
us to save money we can spend on a
variety of other foods not available
from USDA."
"High performance"
meals new this year
This year, in addition to the regular
school lunch, all the high schools in
Portland are adding a new meal con­cept-
the "high performance" meal.
Called the "Training Table," the meals
are high in carbohydrates and fiber,
low in fat and sugar, and have moder­ate
amounts of protein.
Kristy Obbink is assistant director of
nutrition services for Portland and
oversees the lunch and breakfast pro­grams
in the high schools. She helped
establish the Training Table on a trial
basis last year.
The meals were originally intended
as meals for athletes in training, but
soon became popular with all students.
According to Obbink, "The nutritionally
balanced meals are designed to pro­mote
optimum health, not only for ath­letes,
but for anyone interested in
healthy food."
Because the meals are based
around a starch entree-rice, wheat,
potatoes, or beans-USDA-supplied
commodities are usually the major in­gredients.
A typical Training Table en­tree
is a folded pizza, called a calzone,
made with commodity flour, ground
beef, tomato paste, and mozzarella
cheese.
Another favorite is a commodity po­tato,
topped with chili made from com­modity
beans and tortilla pieces.
There's also chicken and vegetable
stir-fry over steamed rice; a bean and
cheese burrito with lettuce, tomato,
salsa, onion, and yogurt topping, and
Food and Nutrition
rice; submarine sandwiches with turkey
and mozzarella; beef and vegetable
stir-try over noodles, and others.
Also available on the Training Table
are things like whole wheat bread,
steamed vegetables, and fresh fruit.
Better products
widely available
Changes showing up in school caf­eterias
are matched by changes at the
state and national levels. AI Curry, a
California commodity processing con­sultant,
says better processed products
are available to schools today for a
number of reasons.
For one thing, USDA is making avail­able
more nutritious products, and
processors are responding to increas­ing
requests for more nutritious end
products.
proAcmeossnign gC aaglifroerenmiae'sn tms,o preiz zthaa ins 1o5n0e of1- lC::::=======---====~~-==:...=-~~j
the most popular end products. Curry
cites it as a good example of how prod­ucts
are changing to reflect current
preferences.
"You're ahead to begin with ," he
says, "because the commodity beet
that goes into the pizza has less tat
than most similar commercial products
and USDA cheeses are 1 00-percent
natural."
He says processors are making a
concerted effort to reduce the amount
of salt in products, and the use of
monosodium glutamate is disappearing
all together.
There's no oil in the pizza sauce,
and oil used elsewhere in cooking is
polyunsaturated.
"Most of the pizzas processed tor
California schools have a 50/50 blend
of mozzarella and cheddar cheeses
because this provides less fat and
adds another taste."
Processed products are coming into
wider use as manufacturers develop
end products more in line with the die-
October 1987
tary guidelines. Food service man­agers
are finding that although they
may not always be able to order food
tailor-made to their specifications, they
are able to choose from a growing list
of processed products that meet their
needs and nutritional standards.
USDA has made
many improvements
USDA commodities already meet or
exceed the specifications for commer­cial
food items, and today both the va­riety
and nutritional value of commod­ities
are improving.
The salt and fat levels in USDA com­modity
meats have been lower than
most commercial products for some
time. Canned tuna packed in water is
available. Fish and chicken nuggets
are fried in vegetable oil.
Specifications for canned fruits re­quire
light syrup or juice tor packing.
USDA is continuing to buy fresh fruits
and vegetables when they're available
and when quick distribution to schools
can be arranged.
The past few years have been the
most dynamic in the history of the com­modity
program. There will continue to
be changes in the program as food
service people nationwide look tor new
ways to use the resources they have to
bring their meal programs in line with
the dietary guidelines.
For more information, contact:
Dennis Stewart
Regional Food Distribution Director
Food and Nutrition Service, USDA
550 Kearney Street, Room 400
San Francisco, California 94108
TelephQne: (415) 556-6357
article by Tina Serrano
17
JERSEY FRESH
In The Garden State
The license plates boast "The
Garden State." Schoolchildren will tell
you the same. Yet you ride down the
New Jersey Turnpike, 12 lanes wide.
Industry surrounds you. You wonder
where the gardens are.
But they are there. In fact, 60 per­cent
of New Jersey is open spaces­parks,
forests, and farms. One-fifth of
the entire state is farmland.
"New Jersey is an agricultural state,"
says Mary Anne McGovern of New
Jersey's Department of Agriculture.
"We are in the top five states in pro­duction
of peaches, blueberries, pep­pers,
and eggplant."
McGovern coordinates a 4-year-old
statewide campaign known as "Jersey
Fresh ... from the Garden State." The
campaign is successfully making con­sumers
of all ages more aware of their
state's rich agricultural resources.
In New Jersey schools, the Jersey
Fresh campaign and other initiatives
are teaching students the advantages
of eating fresh, local products and
helping them understand more about
the food they eat.
Several groups
are involved
School food service and state people
have worked together on the Jersey
Fresh campaign. As Joan Strokis,
North Brunswick food service director
and past president of the New Jersey
School Food Service Association,
explains, both groups came up with the
idea about the same time.
"While I was attending regional and
national school food service conven­tions
with colleagues from other parts
of the country, I learned that many of
them were working more closely with
their departments of education and
agriculture. I brought these ideas back
and we decided we wanted to work
with the department of agriculture to
promote New Jersey produce.
"At the same time," Strokis con­tinues,
"we learned that the state was
18
starting its own public relations cam­paign
to promote Jersey produce. It
was quite a coincidence. We met with
the state secretary of agriculture, who
helped get the department of education
interested."
Together, they decided to promote a
campaign in September, since that is
the best month during the school year
for fresh produce.
"Now every year we celebrate
'Jersey Fresh in School Lunch,"' says
Strokis, who heads the Jersey Fresh
committee for the New Jersey School
Food Service Association.
Special events
carry out theme
New Jersey schools and state agen­cies
have come up with a variety of
ways to celebrate the special month.
Schools have had logo and poster con­tests,
passed out promotional packets,
and coloring books.
The state department of agriculture
produced a colorful poster that hangs
on cafeteria walls promoting "Jersey
Fresh and School Lunch . .. Good
Taste is Always in Style." The poster is
a photograph of five healthy-looking
children with Jersey's own apples,
blueberries, corn, peaches, tomatoes,
and a carton of milk.
Students are getting the message.
"I've found that more youngsters are
picking up salads, looking for items
that are fresh ," says Strokis. "When
schools can offer choices, I find more
students are choosing salads; fewer
are choosing snack items.
"It's not just a dieting trend ," Strokis
adds. " In meetings with student groups
we find they are much more aware of
what they are eating. And it's not just
girls who are making new choices.
Many more young men are also choos­ing
lighter food."
Although North Brunswick schools
added a hamburger and french fries
line 3 years ago, Strokis says par­ticipation
in the high school's salad and
hot lunch line are now growing and
fewer students are choosing fast food
type items.
"Maybe the balance is swinging
back the other way," she says. "Every­thing
students are hearing and reading
about healthy diets is having an impact
on them. Students are getting nutrition
information from many sources."
One of the obvious sources is
their schools and the emphasis their
teachers and cafeteria managers place
on good nutrition.
From the farm
to the lunchroom
Especially during September, Jersey
Fresh Month, most food service direc­tors
try to use as much local produce
as they can. Some make displays of
local produce, to encourage the stu­dents'
recognition of what their state
has to offer.
Last year, Diane Jackson, school
food service director of Pittman
Schools in Gloucester County, took her
display of corn stalks, fresh fruits and
vegetables, and the department of
agriculture poster to various schools to
support the Jersey Fresh campaign.
Some food service directors feature
names of New Jersey localities on their
menus for the month. During Septem­ber,
Susan Downam, food service
director of Upper Township School Dis­trict
in Cape May County, advertises
what items on her menu are Jersey
fresh and the area in the state where
they are grown.
Some school food service direc­tors-
especially in smaller, more rural
areas of south Jersey-make special
trips to buy what fresh produce they
can. The Jersey growing season is
from mid-May through the fall.
Susan Downam buys whatever fresh
fruits and vegetables she can find at
local markets for her two schools-an
elementary and a middle school. "We
have tomatoes, radishes, cucumbers,
watermelons, and cantaloupes," she
Food and Nutrition
Roman Szelada (right) knows what Jersey
Fresh is all about. The Gloucester County
teacher is also a farmer, who often sup­plies
fresh vegetables to county schools.
October 1987 19
says. " I've gone to local farms to get
peaches. I'll be using local strawberries
at a sports banquet next week."
Some "buy fresh"
all year long
Suzanne Horn, school food service
director for Gloucester Township
Schools in Gloucester County is lucky
enough to do all of her produce buying
through a local market-a traditional
fruit stand-all year 'round.
"I put Jersey tomatoes on the menu,
broccoli, even corn on the cob. In Sep­tember
and October, I specify that I
want Jersey produce. That's when it's
available," she says.
Food service director Jackson gets
apples from a farmer in the next town
most of the year. "He sells them to me
for $4.00 per basket," she says. " It
saves me money, and it's nice to know
I am buying locally." In September,
Jackson will pile her car up with local
watermelon, cantaloupe, and other ·
fresh produce.
Jackson also buys produce from a
special source-Roman Szelada, a
teacher in the Pittman Middle School
who is also a farmer. "He brings me
crates of strawberries, tomatoes, and
peppers, mostly in September. I pay
him a little below market price, and
everyone benefits," Jackson says.
Isabelle Wagner uses fresh vegeta­bles
from New Jersey at her salad bar,
at Kingsway Regional High School.
"When farmers have the produce, I
use as much as I can get," she says.
"I have a stand that I patronize. It's
on my way to work. The owner will call
me up and tell me the produce she
thinks I might want. I use mostly
tomatoes, but also broccoli, asparagus,
apples, watermelon, and cantaloupe."
Wagner tries to make the most of
her food service operation, instituting
new ideas in producing and preparing
meals. "Our high school students have
only 22 minutes for lunch," she says.
"When I first started here, the bell
would ring and youngsters would still
be standing in line, waiting for lunch.
Attendance was very low."
To build participation, Wagner
instituted a bag lunch bar. Students get
a choice of five or six sandwiches, a
choice of four fruits, a bag of potato
chips, and milk. "With the bag lunch
and salad bars, participation has really
picked up," Wagner says.
20
Special workshops
teach new ideas
Wagner demonstrated her creative
use of USDA commodities this past
June, when the New Jersey Depart­ment
of Education sponsored its third
annual "Jersey Fresh" workshop. The
workshops promote innovation in the
lunchroom kitchen and encourage
school food service directors to adapt
recipes for their districts.
The workshops are held in the
kitchen-laboratory of Middlesex County
College. They feature presenters who
demonstrate actual techniques in pre­paring
popular items that incorporate
USDA commodities and Jersey fresh
produce in school lunch menus.
At this year's conference, for exam­ple,
Wagner used commodity cheese
to make a sauce that can be used in
cream of broccoli or cauliflower SOL!P.
as a cream sauce for vegetables, and
as a dip for potatoes.
She also baked a spice cake with
USDA sweet potatoes, an apricot­pineapple
pie with USDA apricots and
pineapple, and crumb cakes made with
USDA cherries and blueberries.
Other initiatives
are also helpful
In addition to the Jersey Fresh cam­paign
and workshops, state agencies
and individual schools have initiated
other ways to encourage imaginative
use of commodities in school lunches
and make students more aware of
nutrition.
For example, the state department of
agriculture is currently producing a
second poster to be sent to all school
districts along with a letter to food serv­ice
directors and administrators pro­moting
the use of commodities.
A number of state agencies and the
school food service association
recently joined in a campaign to
increase students' awareness of the
"Dietary Guidelines for Americans,"
jointly published by the U.S. Depart­ment
of Agriculture and the U.S.
Department of Health and Human
Services.
The guidelines advise Americans to:
eat a variety of foods; maintain desir­able
weight; avoid too much fat, satu­rated
fat, and cholesterol; eat foods
with adequate starch and fiber; and
avoid too much sugar and sodium.
A variety of activities helped capture
students' interest. For instance, after
learning about the guidelines, fourth
through seventh grade students sub­mitted
slogans with nutritional informa­tion
to a statewide contest. The 12
winning slogans, of 4,426 entries,
became the "fortunes" in fortune
cookies that schools throughout the
state served during March, National
Nutrition Month.
Statewide efforts like these, com­bined
with activities in individual
schools, are reinforcing the good
health message that's central to the
Jersey Fresh campaign .
School food service directors are
noticing the results. "I see children get­ting
more sophisticated in their eating
habits," says Gloucester County's
Diane Jackson.
" I can serve vegetables today that I
wouldn't dream the students would eat
just a few years ago."
For more information, contact:
Joan Strokis
School Food Service Director
North Brunswick Board of Education
P.O. Box 1807
Old Georges Road
North Brunswick, New Jersey 08902
Telephone: (201) 297-9081
article and photos
by Linda Feldman
Food and Nutrition
Shooting For
The Top
North Carolina has a strong commit­ment
to excellence in public education,
and that commitment extends to school
food service.
This year the North Carolina Depart­ment
of Public Instruction has de­veloped
a new recognition system for
school food service, called the Awards
for Excellence Program, that supports
this commitment to quality.
The new system helps measure how
well programs and resources are being
managed.
Sets new standards
for food service
A 1986 summer conference to set
agency goals identified the need to re-
October 1987
Inez Woodall (left), food service manager
at Benson Elementary in Johnston City,
was one of last year's award winners in
the state's Awards for Excellence program.
She is pictured here with county food serv­ice
director Mary Long Beasley.
vise the state's obsolete awards pro­gram
for school food programs.
"So much has changed in child nutri­tion
in the past 1 0 years, we felt we
had to restructure our awards program
to make it more meaningful," says
George McCullen, state child nutrition
regional coordinator. McCullen chaired
a committee of five state school food
service employees who were assigned
to change the awards system.
"Since the state was in the process
of rewriting goals and setting standards
for excellence in public education, we
wanted to relate our awards system to
the highest level of achievement,"
he adds.
"We surveyed other states to see
what kind of incentive systems were
out there. Ideas from other states were
helpful in our planning. Most states we
surveyed were very interested in re­ceiving
our final awards package."
21
Criteria developed
for several areas
Standards for excellence were de­veloped
to assist school food service
managers attain maximum effective­ness
in several critical program areas,
including financial management, food
production and service, sanitation and
safety, labor, promotion and merchan­dising,
participation, nutrition educa­tion,
and personnel management.
Committee members developed the
criteria and documentation needed in
each area. To let school food service
directors know exactly what was ex­pected
to meet the criteria, they identi­fied
specific goals and the number of
points schools would earn by accom­plishing
them.
Since McCullen had experience as
an auditor, he was responsible for the
sections involving labor, financial man­agement,
and personnel. Others on the
committee drew on their expertise in
areas such as food production and
sanitation to develop measurable
standards.
Julie Stewart, assistant director of
child nutrition for the state, wrote the
22
nutrition section since she had experi­ence
as a dietitian.
"Schools are now doing much more
nutrition education than in the past,"
Stewart says. "We wanted to reward
those staffs that routinely present nutri- .
tion information to students and partici­pate
in nutrition training."
New system was
ready by fall
Current and retired child nutrition
staff and several local food service di­rectors
helped evaluate the proposed
system and made suggestions. After a
busy summer of work by the awards
committee, the final product was pre­sented
to all school superintendents
and child nutrition directors.
To explain the new system and an­swer
any questions, the state staff held
special training sessions. They asked
for schools to send documentation on
their programs by April so awards
could be sent back for presentation at
ceremonies by the end of the school
year.
Only two schools received a plaque
this year, the highest award offered.
Other winners received framed blue,
red, or white ribbon certificates, de­pending
on the number of points
earned.
As McCullen explains, some school
staff think the standards may be too
high, but he feels they are appropri­ately
challenging. "We are trying to
recognize true excellence, not just give
out awards," he says.
Top performers
are recognized
To receive full credit under the new
criteria, cafeterias must maintain a
sanitation grade of 98-high for a food
service establishment. Other standards
require that labor costs don't exceed
35 percent of total revenues and that at
least 90 percent of elementary stu­dents
participate in the lunch program.
Points are also awarded if the school
is involved in other child nutrition pro­grams,
such as the Summer Food
Service Program and the Child Care
Food Program.
I lunchrooms and good food help
make school meals popular at Benson
Elementary (left) and at Nash Junior
Food and Nutrition
Under the promotion and merchan­dising
standards, the school must uti­lize
a variety of merchandising
techniques, such as using garnishes
found in the School Recipe Portfolio, a
full -color recipe book produced by sev­eral
Southeast states and USDA's
Food and Nutrition Service (FNS).
Schools are also recognized for
providing a pleasant, attractive dining
environment with points awarded for
colorful walls, plants, seasonal decora­tions,
student artwork, and a screened
dish-return area.
In order to receive full credit for pro­motion
and merchandising, students
and parents must have the opportunity
to provide input into the school lunch
program. Students and parents can get
involved in activities such as menu
planning, taste testing, nutrition educa­tion,
and cafeteria improvements.
John Murphy, North Carolina state
child nutrition director, praises local
school food service staff for what they
are accomplishing in this area, often
with limited funds.
High in Nash County (above and right).
Both schools received awards for their
innovative food service programs.
October 1987
"You have so many creative people
who do fantastic jobs in merchandising
their programs. They do wonders with
limited resources in decorating caf­eterias
and developing costumes for
cafeteria staff," he says.
One of the year's top winners made
wooden decorations at home to
brighten up lunchroom tables. "How
you present the food service staff and
the cafeteria is important in merchan­dising
the school lunch program," Mur­phy
says.
Training efforts
also given credit
Training is another area state man­agers
feel is important, and the new
awards system gives credit to schools
that make this a priority.
"We encourage food service staff to
take advantage of available oppor­tunities,
such as our summer food
managers workshops and our vid­eotape
training series on efficient
quantity food production," says John
Murphy.
There are a variety of training op­tions,
such as technical food service
courses offered through local com­munity
colleges. Topics range from
equipment use and procurement, to
cost control, and quantity food prepara­tion.
Food service staff can also take
advantage of hands-on training at the
state test kitchen in Raleigh. All of this
training is counted in the awards point
system.
Murphy feels the new awards sys­tem
is an important way to encourage
and reward outstanding work.
"We can't always increase salaries
or benefits," he says, "but through pro­grams
like this, we can appreciate and
recognize what local school lunch di­rectors
contribute each day."
For more information, contact:
John Murphy, Director
Division of Child Nutrition
State Department of Public Instruction
Education Building
Raleigh, North Carolina 27611
Telephone: (919) 733-7162
article and photos
by Kent Taylor
23
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