Evaluation of Cooking for Kids: Culinary Training Program for Oklahoma School Child Nutrition Professionals on Students’ Consumption of School Meals

2017 ◽  
Vol 49 (7) ◽  
pp. S64-S65
Author(s):  
Bradyn Powell ◽  
Deana Hildebrand ◽  
Barbara Brown ◽  
Gail Gates
Keyword(s):  
Training Program ◽  
School Child ◽  
Child Nutrition ◽  
School Meals ◽  
Nutrition Professionals

School nutrition professionals' experiences with food safety and special diets in school meals during the initial COVID-19 pandemic

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emma Beckstead ◽  
Mckenna Jones ◽  
Lori Andersen Spruance ◽  
Emily Patten
Keyword(s):  
Food Safety ◽  
Food Insecurity ◽  
Child Nutrition ◽  
School Nutrition ◽  
Food Allergies ◽  
School Meals ◽  
Convenience Sample ◽  
Special Diet ◽  
Special Diets ◽  
Nutrition Professionals

Federally funded school meals can help alleviate food insecurity and meals are required to be modified when medically necessary (i.e., food allergies, special diets). The COVID-19 pandemic caused many schools across the USA to close, but schools quickly modified meal serving models. The purpose of this study was to understand how school nutrition professionals were ensuring food safety and providing special diets through these modified serving models. A survey was distributed to a convenience sample (n=504). At the time of the survey, most respondents (68.31%) had been involved in COVID-19 emergency feeding for 3-4 weeks. Results indicated that while most child nutrition professionals did not find food safety easier or more difficult during the initial onset of COVID-19, about 1/3 of respondents were not taking food temperatures during meal service and were not able to obtain the equipment necessary for holding hot foods. Most respondents (60.23%) also indicated that they were not accommodating children with special diets. From a qualitative analysis of open-ended questions relative to special diet accommodation, themes indicated participants had challenges obtaining specialty items, had little time to make accommodations, or had a limited supply from vendors to accommodate these diets. To prevent food insecurity and to maintain health during the pandemic, specific solutions for at-risk populations, like those who experience food allergies, must be considered.

School Meals

2019 ◽  
pp. 69-89
Author(s):  
Jean Drèze
Keyword(s):  
Rural Women ◽  
Child Nutrition ◽  
School Attendance ◽  
Quality Standards ◽  
School Meals ◽  
Indian States ◽  
Regular School ◽  
Indian Schools ◽  
Adequate Quality ◽  
Poor Rural Women

This chapter makes the case for free midday meals in Indian schools. School meals have wide‐ranging social benefits. First, they help to ensure regular school attendance. Second, they contribute to better child nutrition. Third, midday meals help to impart egalitarian values among children, who learn to sit together and share a meal irrespective of caste and class. Fourth, India's school meal programme is a major source of employment for poor rural women, and also helps other women to join the workforce by liberating them from the burden of having to prepare lunch for their children. All this, of course, depends on midday meals meeting adequate quality standards. In that respect, one recent breakthrough in many Indian states is the inclusion of eggs in school meals. Alas, this is being resisted in some states under the influence of upper‐caste vegetarian lobbies.

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