Meals Continued from Page 1
those coming fromfarms within 250miles ofElkGrove,accordingtothedistrict.Drake said she tries to servewhat’s in season. “In the spring, we were able to provide locally grown strawberries and many or- ange varieties, like mandarins, navels, Cara Caras and blood oranges,” she said. “As we transitioned to summer meals, we havebeen incorporatingmany local stone fruit varieties. And California growsmany great vegetables that we have been able to include, like fresh broccoli, cherry to- matoes, snap peas, zucchini, cucumbers andromaine lettuce, tonamea fewthatwe rotate into ourmenu frequently.” Barron said she’s doing the same in Stockton, with red bell pepper strips, peaches and grapes from the Fresno area, celerysticks fromOxnardandbroccoli from Salinas showingupon thedistrict’smenu. Nairn, of AgLink, said she also focuses onwhat’s in season. “We’re just jumping into the fall har- vest, which is apples, and grapes will be coming on pretty quickly here,” she said, noting that business is off fromwhat itwas before—perhaps 50% to 60%of average. Wendy Buckley of grower-packer Primavera in Linden said it’s still a little early to see how the seasonwill shake out. “We’veonlydonetwoweeksofbusiness,” she said. “It’s just starting. Usually when things get roaring about September time, there’s less tree fruit, there’s less grapes, so people turn towantingmore apples.” (Kevin Hecteman i s an ass i stant editor of Ag Alert. He may be contacted at khecteman@cfbf.com.)
of child nutrition and food services. As of lastweek, she said, thedistrictwas serving about 5,600studentsonmeal-pickupdays: Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Similar trendsareplayingout elsewhere. MichelleDrake, directorof foodandnu- trition services for the Elk Grove Unified School District south of Sacramento, said she’s gone from 40,000 meals per day to 12,000; in the Lodi Unified School District, thenumbershaveplungedfromasmanyas 32,000perdaydownto8,000to10,000, said NancyRostomily, directorof foodservices. School nutrition directors said a num- ber of factors are involved, such as fami- lies finding it tough to get away to pick up mealsduringworkinghoursandaseason- al decrease inservicesduring the summer, when students areout of school butmeals remainavailable for thosewhoneed them. The move to curbside pickup has led to changes at packinghouses, as well, as schools deal with the new reality. “Farmers and packinghouses together havedefinitelymadesome transitionsover thesummer toaccommodate thedemand that they expected,” Nairn said. “We are seeing some different options for individ- uallypackagedveggies, including lettuce.” Small bags of carrots, broccoli and grapes also aremoving, she added.
Stagg High School employ- ee Pyongson Ortegas moves meal bags back to the cafeteria after lunchtime curbside service in Stockton.
“They’re pretty common anyway, but they’ve definitelymigrated into some ad- ditional individual packing options, just knowing the demand has changed a little bit,” Nairn said. Barronsaid theStocktondistrictuses in- dividual servings inmeal bags that contain enough ingredients for breakfast, lunch, dinner and a snack. “We’re purchasing the individual serv- ings,” she said. “In the past, we did have salad bars in all of our schools, sowith the salad bars, wewould buy in bulk.” Barron also has changed how she buys milk. Instead of the half-pint cartons fa- miliar to legions of students, she’s buying half-gallon cartons to send home with their families. “Makes it a lot easier on the parents to
have thosehalf-gallons intheir refrigerator, instead of all the half-pints,” she said. LodiUnifiedwon’tbegoingbacktoitsfor- merwaysof servingfood,at least forawhile. “When students return to campus, self- serve salad bars are being replaced with individuallywrapped items, inaneffort to reduce the touchpoints andmake itmore efficient for students that will be eating in different locations in order to social-dis- tanceduringmeal service,”Rostomilysaid. The issues for her from that shift are cost—individual packs are two to three times as expensive—and longevity, as she needs “sturdy produce that can be received, prepped and has a good shelf life—apples, oranges, carrots, celery, etc.,” she noted. One thing that hasn’t changed: many districts’ commitments to shopping close to home. The Elk Grove Unified School Districtbuysabout80%of itsfreshfruitsand vegetables fromCalifornia, withmany of
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14 Ag Alert August 19, 2020
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