Greendale Schools Food Service Earns Six-Cent Certification

Greendale Schools Food Service Department has earned certification for compliance with the Healthy Hunger Free Kids Act. This distinction validates that Greendale Schools’ menus meet or exceed all nutritional requirements mandated in the most recent legislation for the National School Lunch and Breakfast programs. The District receives an additional six cents per meal reimbursement from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, retroactive to October 2012, as a result of the certification.

Greendale Schools promotes healthy students by supporting wellness, good nutrition, and regular physical activity as a part of the total learning environment. District schools students learn about and participate in positive dietary, physical activity, and lifestyle practices emphasizing the understanding that good health impacts student performance potential.

The new Federal school meal standards implemented last fall ensure students are offered both fruits and vegetables every day of the week; substantially increases offerings of whole grain-rich foods; offer fat-free or low-fat milk varieties; limit calories based on the age of children to ensure proper portion sizes; and increase the focus on reducing the amounts of saturated fat, trans fat and sodium. Research shows that kids who have healthy diets and get regular physical activity are more likely to perform better academically.

The new guidelines align school meals with the latest nutrition science, based on recommendations from the National Academies of Science Institute of Medicine and the 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans.