5 things: Aramark launches video series to promote K-8 nutrition

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:

 1.    Aramark launches video series to promote K-8 nutrition

Aramark Student Nutrition has announced the launch of The ACE Show, a video series aimed at promoting health and nutrition education among elementary school students. It combines games, short video clips, mindful moments, and even multiple-choice questions designed to make health and nutrition education fun and interactive.

Read more: Aramark Student Nutrition’s “The ACE Show” Promotes Healthy Habits for Students

 2.    Everytable launches service at Bronx hospital

Patients and visitors of NYC Health Hospitals/Jacobi in the Bronx now have access to healthy meals ranging from salads, sandwiches and salmon to pasta and Jamaican jerk chicken that cost as little as $5 thanks to a partnership between the hospital and fresh meals vendor Everytable. This is the first Everytable inside of a NYC Health Hospitals facility, but officials say the goal is to place them in every one across the city.

Read more: Every Table expands to NYC Health Hospitals/Jacobi, offering healthy and affordable food

 3.    University of Montana plans meal plan changes with new dining hall debut

Related:5 tech things: Sodexo plans healthcare robot patient support pilot for 2024

Next year, the University of Montana will unveil a new dining hall with twice the capacity and six separate food stations, and will also change its meal plan offerings from the three plans all students living on campus are required to choose from to two plans: the Maroon and Silver plans. The Maroon plan, at $3,586, will give unlimited Food Zoo swipes all week, including weekends, plus 300 flex dollars per semester, while the Silver plan for $2,978 will give unlimited Food Zoo swipes Monday-Friday plus 100 flex dollars per semester. The flex dollars can be spent at any on-campus location that serves food

Read more: All you can eat? New UM meal plans will offer more swipes for more money

 4.    High school offers fresh meal order service for staff

Adult staff at Henry P. Becton Regional High School in New Jersey have a new exclusive program from dining services provider Pomptonian Food Service that lets them order healthier and more convenient lunch options right at school for $7.75. There are five different options per day and 25 different ones per week with the ingredients sourced from local grocers and farms, with the dishes being created by Pomptonian head now foodservice and fine dining veteran Heather Constantino.

Related:5 things: New York style deli opens unit in medical center

Read more: The New Wildcat Country Cafe

 5.    Audit finds oversight lapses in Minnesota senior meals program

The Minnesota Board on Aging, which is responsible for administration of a federal meals program that served 3.1 million meals to more than 40,000 seniors in 2022, lacked sufficient oversight to ensure compliance with legal requirements, a new audit from the Office of the Legislative Auditor has found. It determined that in some cases the agency did not have proper documentation to support payments for meals in the Senior Nutrition Program, which supports people 60 and older with financial needs while the board and its local organization partners—the Area Agencies on Agencies—also fell short of what is required for monitoring.

Read more: Audit: Federal meal program for 40,000 seniors didn't have sufficient oversight

Bonus: Top 12 business and industry food service stories of 2023

Contact Mike Buzalka at [email protected]