Which veggies rule on K-12 menus?

The potato and the tomato have been crowned king and queen of the lunchroom. New research from the Foodservice Research Institute (FRI) identifies spuds as the leading vegetable on school menus, tied with tomatoes, in sauce or salsa form. FRI, creator of the recent FlavorTrak K-12 Menus report, collects information from noncommercial operators for a database with a focus on school foodservice. 

“Potatoes including fries, mashed, wedges, hash browns and other may be found on 98 percent of menus in the Top 100 U.S. school districts,” according to the FlavorTrack K-12 Menus report, which was compiled by looking at 17,500 items on the breakfast and lunch menus of elementary and high schools from the Top 100 U.S. School Districts list, which is based on enrollment. Tomatoes as marinara sauce, salsa and tomato sauce, appeared just as often, on 98 percent of menus. Read on to see how all vegetables in the report ranked.

All data courtesy of FlavorTrack by Foodservice Research Institute