The West Windsor-Plainsboro Regional School District voted unanimously on Tuesday, June 27, to renew its contract with food service provider Sodexho. The company has served the district for the last five years, but this fall students will see changes on their lunch trays.
A new state-mandated nutrition policy will be adopted by the district at the June 27 meeting. The policy, which goes into effect when classes resume in September, bans the sale of candy, sugary drinks, and fatty foods. Sodexho, which serves over 1 million meals to the district each year, is required to make healthier options available.
According to Bonnie Gordon, spokesperson for the Maryland company, the cafeteria menu will include two types of fresh fruit per day, and vegetables twice a week. Beans will be included at least once a week, and french fries will be on limited availability. They will be replaced by baked potatoes and sweet potatoes.
More whole wheat bread and pasta will replace some of the the white-flour based carbs served in the past. Students can no longer buy large bottled beverages. Instead, they’ll be limited to single-serving containers. In accordance with the wellness policy, 60 percent of all drinks will be “health drinks,” such as juices. The other 40 percent will include Snapple-brand drinks and teas, but no soda will be sold.
Sodexho will continue to offer a special treat for birthday boys and girls. Gordon says this year instead of the cake given to a student celebrating a birthday, a fruit and/or vegetable kebab with dipping sauce will mark the date. Sodexho makes no suggestions for steadying a candle in the new festive snack, but school officials do not condone the use of open flame in any celebration.
The contract with Sodexho is for the next year, renewable by the school board for each of the next five years without conducting an open-bidding process. The company serves over 400 school districts.
West Windsor parents, namely Beth Feehan, had voiced a desire to include local producers and growers in the supply for the lunches. Feehan wrote letters to the editor and spoke out at school board meetings in support of the idea. Says Gordon: “They’ll be included to some level. We’ll use local sources for milk, and most likely seasonal vegetables. We have a very organized and stringent supply managent chain. We want to assure food safety, and we validate every step of the process, from growing to shipping. We audit the companies we use to ensure that they use safe procedures in every step of the way.”
