Student taste testers offer lunch feedback

April 18—Students at the Landis Intermediate School, in Vineland, N.J., more than 20 lucky students offered up their taste buds to help food developers figure out which healthy foods to add to school menus across the state next year.

The state Agriculture Department received a $62,000 federal grant this year to help fund their “Made with Jersey Fresh” initiative, which is a partnership between the department and the Rutgers Food Innovation Center in Bridgeton to develop more nutritious items for school lunch menus.

This year’s testing and additional grant will help the developers tweak the products before they are finally mass-produced and added to school lunch menus throughout the state, Fisher said.