5 things: School cafeteria worker accused of serving pot-laced cookies

In this edition of 5 Things, Food Management highlights five things you may have missed recently about developments affecting onsite dining.

Here’s your list for today:

Sarah Dailey, a cafeteria worker at at Earlsboro Elementary School in Oklahoma, is being accused of bringing cookies baked with marijuana to teachers and is facing charges of possession of a controlled substance with intent to distribute. Police said the cookies, which were baked with THC butter, were given to two teachers at the school and made one of them sick, leading the other to report the incident to school officials.

Read more: An Oklahoma cafeteria worker faces possession charges after she brought cookies baked with marijuana to teachers at her elementary school, reports say

The Food Farmacy program at Advocate South Suburban Hospital in Hazel Crest, Ill. and Advocate Trinity Hospital in Chicago have distributed nearly 50,000 pounds of fresh, healthy food for food insecure patients this year. "You can't be healthy without access to healthy food," said Emily Daniels of the Greater Chicago Food Depository, which partners with the hospitals on the program. "The Food Farmacy helps increase access to good food, and we're proud to partner with Advocate Aurora Health on this important project."

Related:5 things: Pandemic forces University of Missouri Catering to shut down

Meanwhile, Riverside Healthcare in nearby Kankakee has teamed up with the Northern Illinois Food Bank to launch the first hospital-based food pantry in Northern Illinois, in conjunction with mobile food drives. According to Riverside leaders, one-third of local households care for a family member with high blood pressure, diabetes or heart disease with many of them lacking access to or struggling with paying for nutritious foods, so, the office screens patients for need during appointments.

Read more: Advocate South Suburban helps feed food insecure patients and Feed the Love: Northern Illinois Food Bank's first hospital food pantry launches in Kankakee

Eating Clubs and Princeton University Campus Dining have agreed to suspend their Meal Exchange program for the remainder of the fall term due to COVID restrictions. Campus Dining will waive fees for incomplete exchanges that have an end date after November 26.

Read more: Meal Exchange Program Suspended

Sheba Medical Center in Israel is using an ice cream maker to turn nutritional supplements into a tasty treat that feels more like an indulgence rather than a medically-prescribed treatment, prompting elderly patients struggling to ingest sufficient nutrients to consume more of the supplements. Sheba's recipe is straightforward: four bottles of nutritional drink placed in an ice cream machine for one hour will yield about two liters of ice cream. Generally, nothing is added to the drinks to make the ice cream, though some patients may request an added flavoring like fruit or mint.

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Read more: At One Hospital, Older Adults Meet Nutritional Needs With Ice Cream

Purdue University Student Government has passed a proposal that would initiate a trial run next semester to gauge student interest in allowing off-campus students to buy swipes at some on-campus dining locations. The commuter meal plans would provide 20 swipes at On-the-Go, Pete’s ZA and 1Bowl locations for $230, according to the bill and students could replenish swipes if they ran out, the proposal reads. The trial will be used to gauge student interest in the plan.

Read more: PSG promotes meal plans for off campus students

Bonus: Top 10 K-12 school food service stories of 2021

Contact Mike Buzalka at [email protected]