5 coronavirus things: Remote classes leading to overweight kids, pediatricians warn

In this special edition of 5 Things, Food Management highlights five things you may have missed recently about developments regarding coronavirus and its impact on onsite dining.

Here’s your list for today:

The coronavirus pandemic’s protracted disruption of in-person schooling, sports and other activities combined with more snacking and less exercising are leading to weight gain in children that could have long-lasting impacts on their health, pediatricians are warning. “We’re seeing a lot of elementary school-aged kids who are gaining 20 to 30 pounds in a year,” said Hai Cao, a pediatrician based in Brooklyn, N.Y.

Read more: Remote Learning During Covid-19 Is Causing Children to Gain Weight, Doctors Warn

North Carolina State University Dining has reopened One Earth World Cuisine for the spring semester. One Earth, located on the east side of the campus, had operated as the primary dining hall for students who remained on campus throughout the fall semester and had been slated to be closed for the spring as most students were scheduled to reside on the west side of campus. However, flooding on the east side of campus forced students to the west side, prompting a need for One Earth to be open to serve them.

Related:K-12 On Demand: Chef John Sugimura of Taher Inc. on visiting schools to introduce students to Japanese cuisine

Read more: Dining consolidates locations to accommodate a smaller on-campus population

Winter weather that makes travel difficult has encouraged employees at some onsite dining programs to stay onsite to be ready to serve customers. At Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas, 14 dining hall staffers employed by contract firm Aramark chose to stay overnight and continue to feed students living on campus as a historic winter storm swept the area.

Read more: Trinity University dining hall staff members stay overnight to serve food to around 1,100 students

Meanwhile, severe weather conditions that led to extra employees staying onsite has prompted Baylor Scott & White-Hillcrest Hospital in Waco, Texas, to put out a call for food donations to feed them. The hospital says it needs 250 additional meals per day, specifically pre-packed or prepared meals that staff can easily take back to their units as well as bottled water and other bottled beverages and various grab-and-go snacks.

Read more: Baylor Scott & White – Hillcrest in need of food for employees

Related:5 things: CDC says schools can safely reopen for in-person learning

Butler University and food service partner Bon Appétit Management Co. have launched a food grant program called Food Enterprises Achieving Sustainability Together (FEAST) to support sustainable food-related projects that benefit the campus community. The first project to be supported by the fund is an egg centrifuge that cracks eggs at very high speed, which allows locally sourced eggs from nearby Spring Valley Farms to be used more widely in the campus dining program by eliminating the labor-intensive process of hand-cracking the eggs.

Read more: Butler Dining Launches New Sustainable Food Grant Program

Bonus: 9 adventurous menu elements from the Pacific Northwest and Alaska

Contact Mike Buzalka at [email protected]