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Food services outlines commodity funding, new menu items and kitchen expansions; director says she will retire
Summary
Food services director Kim Anderson briefed the board on commodity funds, entitlement calculations, a new smoothie and the district's central and Rescue kitchen projects; she said she is retiring after 31 years and will mentor her successor.
Kim Anderson, the district's food services director, gave a detailed briefing on federal commodity funds, entitlement calculations, menu development and recent facility work at the board meeting.
Anderson explained how entitlement (USDA commodity) funds are calculated and spent and described the district's role in a purchasing cooperative. She said the commodity per-lunch fair-market value rose from about $0.365 last year to $0.45 this year and that the district's initial entitlement for 2023'24 started at about $166,000; she also noted the co-op redistributed unused funds and that districts must spend allocated entitlement within the year or the co-op will reallocate the funds.
Anderson described product buckets used by her department (direct delivery/Brown Box, raw materials, processed foods and Department of Defense produce allotments), the calendar for menu development (work begins in November and final allocations must be set in February), and testing of new recipes with students and staff. She introduced a new blueberry-banana-yogurt-orange-juice smoothie that will be added to breakfast next year and described development of a raspberry bar whose recipe the district refined with Simplot frozen raspberry crumbles; Simplot included that recipe in a promotion showcased at a statewide school-nutrition conference.
On facilities, Anderson reviewed the central kitchen expansion (added prep area taken from storage) and the new Rescue kitchen (converted from former restrooms/locker area) and said the changes allow more scratch cooking and faster service lines. She said the expansion used a mix of grant funds, internal food-service funds and a one-time facilities contribution from the district; the Rescue kitchen was opened at a recent grand opening.
Board members asked operational questions about inventory limits and carryover; Anderson said district policy and co-op practice discourage holding large inventories and that state oversight will challenge districts with excessive inventory values (she said keeping inventory below about $20,000 is advisable to avoid state scrutiny). Anderson also said the district has been working to remove artificial dyes from a la carte items at middle schools and to prepare for anticipated nutrition restrictions.
During trustee remarks multiple board members praised Anderson's work. Anderson said she is retiring after 31 years with the program but that she would mentor the person who fills her role.
The presentation included questions from trustees and descriptive material about procurement timelines; no formal board action or vote was required on the food-service presentation.
