This post was contributed by a community member. The views expressed here are the author's own.

Schools

Pennsbury to Make School Lunches Healthier

Pennsbury School District does a dining service makeover to provide students with healthier lunches that comply with federal regulations.

For the first time in 15 years, the Pennsbury School District is changing the look of the school meals offered to the students in the district.

Across the country, all schools participating in the National School Lunch Program and Breakfast Program are required to offer meals that meet the latest Dietary Guidelines for Americans.

“Under the new federal guidelines, school districts like ours are now required to offer even more variety as well as a specific amounts of foods from the different food groups,” according to information sent to parents this week.

Find out what's happening in Levittownwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

The new menu goes into effect at the start of the 2012-2013 school year, next Tuesday, and will increase the availability of fruits, vegetables, and whole grains in the menu. Highlights of what students will see this year include

  • Age-appropriate calorie limits and portion sizes. More whole grains.
  • For lunches this year, at least half of all grains served must be whole grain-rich.
  • Greater focus on fruits and vegetables.
  • In order for a student’s food selection to count as a school meal, he or she must take at least ½ cup of fruits or vegetables on his or her tray.

The benefits of eating healthy meals at school, according to the district, are students who stay alert, are well behaved and are ready to learn.

Find out what's happening in Levittownwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

The cost for a student to buy lunch in will be $3.20. At the middle schools and elementary schools, the cost of breakfast will be $1.25, and lunch will be $2.45, which is 10 cents higher than last year.

Pennsbury’s provider of dining services is Metz Culinary Management. Parents can pay online for their students’ meals, as well as see the menu at  cafeprepay.com.

The National School Lunch Program is a federally assisted meal program operating in more than 100,000 public and non-profit schools and residential child care institutions, according to the National School Lunch Program’s website.

A typical high school lunch menu will consist of: toasted cheese sandwich on whole wheat bread; tomato soup (1 cup); Ceasar side salad (1 cup); grapes (1/2 cup); fresh watermelon/cantaloupe chunks (1/2 cup)’ fat-free milk 98 fl. Oz.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

The views expressed in this post are the author's own. Want to post on Patch?