What is working
in school food?
On Friday, March 18, with support from Healthy Schools Campaign and Illinois Farm to
School Network, School Food FOCUS will lead a day
of programming focused on moving school food procurement towards more
healthful, regionally-sourced and sustainably-produced options.
On Friday, March
18th, School Food FOCUS School Food FOCUS is organizing a
series of school food procurement sessions:
- School District Presentations – Food Service
Professionals from Chicago, Milwaukee, Saint Paul and New York City detail
their successes and challenges in changing procurement practices in their
districts
- Roundtable Discussions – Small groups
of food service professionals, academics, government officials and advocates
discuss hot-topic issues in school food procurement, such as working with USDA
commodities, sourcing whole-grain products, and improving the nutritional
profile of milk served
- Vendor Showcase – Featured vendors offer
products that move school food towards more healthful, regionally-sourced and
sustainably-produced meals, such as whole-grain bread products, low-sodium processed foods and creative frozen vegetable blends.
In addition, the
FamilyFarmed Trade Show will offer workshops including “Food Safety in the
School Garden,” “Large Scale Sustainable Meat Procurement,” “Scaling Up Urban
Agriculture for Wholesale Markets,” and a presentation by the IL Farm to School
Network on “Lessons Learned in School Food Pilots.”
What you
will gain:
- Opportunities to discuss salient
issues, ask questions, and get practical suggestions and advice from peers
on implementing procurement changes
- Networking with food service
professionals, vendors, local community organizations and others involved
in the process of improving school food
- Meeting vendors who may be able to
provide products that better fulfill your food priorities
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