Nutrition director explains menu choices

When Jennifer Walker, a registered dietician, was a mother with four children in Kingsport City Schools, she had issues with school meals.

Now, with a year under her belt as supervisor of school nutrition and only two of her four children still in KCS, she has a different perspective.

That is based, in part, on her new knowledge that student tastes drive menus but that those menus also must meet numerous federal requirements.

Among the most popular items? The old standby of chicken nuggets and a new high school offering that's temporarily sold out: yogurt parfait.

"I was a critic until I had this job," Walker said during a presentation to the Board of Education Thursday night. "Believe it or not, it's student driven."

She said chicken nuggets and other chicken products are among the most popular food items for the school system, although not her personal favorite.

But it is student palates the system strives to please, not hers.

"It's not nutrition unless they eat it," Walker said.

Still, she said the chicken nuggets are health food because, among other things, they have whole grain coatings, much as pizzas use whole grain wheat. In fact, she said most all entree items on the school menu meet federal requirements because they are whole grain and not fried.

"I think it's a decent menu," Walker said.

She said at least 50 percent of the food items with grain must use whole grains, as well as have low sugar, low sodium, low saturated fats and no trans fat. Fruits and vegetables also are required to be offered.

In addition to traditional breakfast and lunch requirements, she said a new U.S. Department of Agriculture requires healthy snacks.

For parents and others with questions about the food program at school, she recommended visiting the KCS school nutrition website, which has menus, prices, applications for free and reduced meals and other school nutrition information.