USDA school kitchen grants ease service, ingredient woes: Study

USDA grants for school kitchen equipment have helped schools overcome challenges with meeting National School Lunch Program standards, a recent study conducted by The Pew Charitable Trusts and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation found.

Purchases made with these grants have enabled schools to improve food quality and appeal and boost operational efficiency, thanks to items such as new holding cabinets, mobile food carts and updated POS systems, a Pew research summary says.

“The kids are eating more fresh vegetables, and that’s a boon for local growers and children’s health, as well as a less expensive alternative to depending upon frozen vegetables,” Jack Miniard, foodservice director for Harlan County Public Schools in Kentucky, told Pew of the impact following an elementary school’s purchase of a new combi oven. “But best of all, the students—and teachers, who now often eat in the cafeteria too—are being treated to ‘real’ food that they like, and that fuels them up for all the opportunities our school has to offer.”

A 2012 survey by Pew’s Kids’ Safe and Healthful Foods Project found that while 88% of school districts lacked one or more pieces of equipment that would help them meet NSLP requirements, only 42% of their foodservice programs had a budget for purchasing equipment at all.

Related:Districts making healthy strides but need equipment

The USDA has provided at least $200 million in grant funds for school kitchen equipment since 2009.