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Child nutrition staff: federal and state reimbursements pay for meals, payroll and kitchen equipment
Summary
Speakers said weekly federal and state reimbursements fund school meals, staff payroll and kitchen equipment; staff described following USDA and TDA rules (whole grains, low sodium) and experimenting with presentation and recipes to increase student participation.
Child nutrition staff described how weekly federal and state reimbursements keep the school meal program running and pay for food, payroll and kitchen equipment.
"Nutrition and education go hand in hand, you know, because you have to have a good meal," a child nutrition staff member said, adding that the child nutrition department's purpose "is to make sure that every student receives a healthy meal." The staff member said the program depends on reimbursement revenue: "Every student weekly with that reimbursement money, that money goes back to buying more food, payroll, equipment, anything and everything in the kitchen for the students comes back for the students."
The staff member said the department must follow rules from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Texas Department of Agriculture that call for whole-grain products and very low sodium levels in prepared foods. "We have so many policies we have to follow through USDA and TDA," the staff member said, adding that the team experiments with seasonings and different USDA-compliant recipes each month to keep meals appealing: "Then we try to implement, a different, recipes during the month... so they can they can be interested."
On presentation and student response, the staff member said presentation is important and reported frequent, positive feedback from students: "They tell the ladies thank you and, and we love to hear that." At one point the speaker said, "Lunch is the best part of my day."
A meeting participant added praise for the team: "I love our town nutrition department, our staff. We have great staff and they're just they're awesome. Without them, you know, it couldn't happen." Both speakers emphasized that the program's focus is the student and thanked students, teachers, staff and parents for supporting participation in school meals.
No formal motions or votes were recorded in the discussion. The speakers framed the remarks around the program's reliance on reimbursement funding and the operational challenge of meeting nutrition rules while keeping meals appealing to students.
