Changing the Paradigm of School Nutrition in Oklahoma

Chef-Led Training for School Nutrition Professionals

Annual Turning Point ConferenceSeptember 2015

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Why are changes needed?• Healthy, Hunger-free Kids Act, 2010

– USDA updated school meal patterns and nutrition standards

• Fruits and vegetables as 2 separate components• increased quantities and

variety• Whole-grain rich grains• Age-appropriate calorie ranges• < 10 % calories from fat• No trans fat• Reduced sodium

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Best achieved through increased use of less-processed foods

Affects:– Purchasing– Skills– Preparation time– Equipment needs– Student acceptance of meals

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Research Recommends

–Chef-based model

–Provide training to school cafeteria staff

–Menus that meet 2012 nutrition standards

–Meals that taste good and are acceptable to students

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Cooking for Kids Partnership Formed

• OSDE Child Nutrition

• OSU – Department of Nutritional Sciences– School of Hotel & Restaurant Administration– Oklahoma Cooperative Extension

• Industry Chefs– Tiffany Poe, C.E.C.– Alyssa Densham, Chef

• Child Nutrition Directors representation

• 6 public school sites• Urban & rural (4 and 2, respectively)• Elementary & secondary (3 and 3, respectively)• Statewide representation

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What We Needed to KnowWhat are the school lunch consumption trends of Oklahoma students?

How willing and prepared (ready) are Oklahoma school nutrition staff to use less processed foods?

What are students eating?

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What are the school lunch consumption trends of Oklahoma students?

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What We Learned• Majority of students ate ~ ¾ of the entrée

servings

• Students ate ~ ½ of the grain servings

• Majority of students ate < ½ of the vegetable serving

• Majority of the students were not eating the fruit

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More of What We Learned

• Urban and secondary schools provided more choices and variety

– When students can make a choice between options they are more likely to eat what they choose. (Hanks, Wansink & Just, 2013)

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Implications• Increase choices

and variety within school meals.

• Build skills to increase taste appeal and students’ acceptance of– Vegetables and fruits – Whole grains

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How willing and prepared are school nutrition professionals to use less processed food?

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Readiness before the training: Change is required but not sure why or how

• Didn’t value the change– Making changes to meet federal regulations

• Felt unsupported by school “community”– Negative perceptions of food

• Lack time and staff to make changes – No experts to provide training

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Pilot Training, Summer 2014• Chef-led training

• Health implications

• Mise en place for better time efficiency

• Knife skills

• Flavor profiles

• Practice, practice, practice

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After the Training• “We want to do something positive.”• Valued the change

– Healthier food healthier students better academic performance

• Acknowledged leadership’s efforts to assist with change

• Acquired new skills– But how to use in Child Nutrition ??

• Desired more training from chefs applying skills to job

• Concern about students acceptance of food

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Implications• Basic skills are needed but must be applicable to

school nutrition– Menus, recipes

• Every school is different (e.g., resources, needs)– Training should be customized– Chef-based programs have shown positive results

• Marketing•

– Students– School “community”

Cooking for Kids Model

Online Resources / Social Media

On-Site Chef Consultations

Skill Development Regional Workshops

School district enrollment

Eval

uatio

n

Regional Skill Development Trainings, Summer 2015

• 10 professionally trained chefs• 15 regional, 4-day trainings• Reach

– ~ 375 school nutrition managers & head cooks

– Representing ~ 75 school districts– 7 Human Sciences students

Cooking For Kids

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Formal evaluation in progress– Training satisfaction– Training-chef process evaluation– Pre and 6-month post participant evaluation

• Implementation of skills• Use of “scratch” cooking• Attitudes• Perceived school stakeholder support

Participant Comments & Feedback• I wanted to let you know how much I enjoyed the cooking for kids program

you presented at Burns Flat last week. I can follow recipes and even figure out how to fix the mess ups some of the staff has made, but I have never been good at knowing what spices and herbs to use as you could tell from my "trick my rice " exercise, but with use and learning I hope to get better.

• Cooking for kids culinary training was so informative. It gave us useful information on how to achieve the requirements. I hope they will continue to have more of these classes. Thank you for the spice blend recipes.   YOU ARE AWESOME!

• We had a great time and learned so much. I was wondering if I could get the nutrition facts on the recipes.

 • It was a great class and I look forward to what you guys do next.

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On-site Chef Consultations

• Menu & recipe development

• Procurement

• Equipment assessment

• Work schedules

• Marketing plans & implementation

• Eligible after school staff has completed Skill Development 1 & 2

• During the school year

• Child Nutrition Directors / Managers

• Pre- & post-outcome evaluation– Plate waste study– Average daily participation

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What Community Members Can Do

• Support access to healthy foods in your community

• Role model healthy eating• Support youth cooking and nutrition

education • Support your local school nutrition

program.

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Questions?

Child Nutrition – The place to eat at school!

Cooking for Kids 26

Promotional video(begins on next slide)

https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0B-tsVYyEVf2FNW5HUV9RczJNeGc&usp=sharing

2015