Lifetime Citizen Portal Access — AI Briefings, Alerts & Unlimited Follows
Portland Public Schools launches districtwide third‑party‑certified halal meals; food service updates planned
Loading...
Summary
Portland Public Schools told its board on April 1 that district kitchens will now offer third‑party‑certified halal meals and that hot halal options will be available daily on a five‑day cycle; food‑service leaders also outlined related menu, procurement and waste‑reduction initiatives.
Portland Public Schools announced on April 1 that every school in the district will offer third‑party‑certified halal school meals, and food‑service leaders outlined additional menu and operations changes intended to increase cultural relevance, nutrition and waste reduction.
Khadija Ahmed, a parent and community advocate who worked with the Cumberland Food Council, told the board the initiative had been a “labor of love” and said the district had become one of the earliest U.S. districts to adopt third‑party halal certification for school meals. Jen Montague, the district’s food-service director, said the district is working with IFANCA (the Islamic Food and Nutrition Council of America) as the third‑party certifier.
Montague briefed the board on how the program will run: a hot halal meal will be available every school day on a five-day cycle; three of the five daily menus are also vegan and two of the five are halal‑certified meat options. Montague said procurement and supply‑chain issues mean sourcing local halal meat has been challenging; she cited an example of a local slaughterhouse, Commonwealth Poultry, that is reopening and may be a future source. She said IFANCA reviews and certifies ingredients and kitchen practices and that the district has created student advisory groups, described by the certifier as “Halal quality management teams,” at Casco Bay and Deering High School and expects to expand them.
Montague described other food-service priorities: expanding culturally relevant menu items (examples included jerk chicken with sofrito rice, jollof rice, and bulgogi), increasing scratch cooking (including a new focaccia‑style pizza dough at elementary schools), piloting improved breakfasts with a $5,000 FoodCorps grant and partnering with local vendors (for example, Maize restaurant) to scale student-tested items such as empanadas. The district has also begun waste audits with EcoMaine and partners at the University of Southern Maine and said initial improvements reduced trash at one site by roughly $4,000 per year.
Why it matters: The move changes school-lunch accessibility for Muslim students and families and is part of a broader push to make school food more culturally relevant, nutritious and less wasteful. Several board members and the superintendent praised community partners and staff for the work; no vote was required to implement operational menu changes.
Operational notes: Montague said IFANCA requires student advisory teams and ingredient-level review; the district will continue refining menus and procurement to make halal meat options sustainable and equitable for all students.
