School nutrition trending: USDA extends summer meal flexibilities; school districts feeding communities during coronavirus

During the COVID-19 pandemic, USDA has provided a never-seen-before amount of flexibilities to help schools feed kids through school meal programs, with summer meal programs coming in clutch. The USDA’s Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) is extending a suite of nationwide waivers for the Summer Food Service Program (SFSP) and Seamless Summer Option (SSO) through the end of 2020, or until available funding runs out.

Since the coronavirus shut down school buildings in its markets this past spring, Maschio’s Food Services Inc.,  has been busy providing meals to kids who are learning from home. Maschio’s improvised by converting headquarters storage space into a production kitchen that turned out up to 50,000 meals a day over the summer.

Broward County Public Schools (BCPS), has made the decision to offer classes 100% online at least until October. The nutrition team will continue a curbside pickup program that began when the pandemic hit. Grab-and-go meals for breakfast and lunch begin the first day of school, Aug. 19, and then every Tuesday and Thursday at 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. and an added pickup time from 3-5 p.m.

See what else was trending in K-12 on Food Management this month.