The School Food Service (SFS) Department designs the menus offered throughout Palm Beach County for all of the Child Nutrition Programs. The menu development process is complex and consideration must first be given to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) guidelines. A Menu Advisory Board is essential when addressing the complexities of providing a variety of nutritious and appealing meals for students across the District. This group oversees the development of all the District menus to include Breakfast, Elementary School Lunch, Middle School Lunch, and High School Lunch.

During the 2014-2015 school year, the Menu Advisory Board was comprised of a variety of SFS Managers from each of the eight geographical areas, SFS Administrators, SFS Field Specialists, and representatives from the Nutrition Services team and the Equipment & Facilities Management team. All members were responsible for attending the meetings throughout the school year. During the meetings, SFS Managers had an opportunity to discuss the feedback they received from the colleagues in their areas. Concerns with student acceptance, item placement, cost effectiveness, serving efficiencies, recipe development, as well as other topics were discussed. Then, during Area Meetings, the SFS Managers played a key role in communicating the changes noted in the menu design and any additional information discussed. In addition to being a communication liaison, often these SFS Managers were selected to conduct product testing with their students. They were provided with the necessary tools to encourage detailed student feedback.

In addition to the traditional committee members, the SFS Department recognizes that special guests such as parents, school administrators, teachers, school nurses, students, media representatives, food industry representatives and community partners can provide valuable contributions to the development process.

The SFS Department is committed to serving high quality, nutritionally enhanced products. An important piece of the procurement process is product evaluation. The SFS administrative team completes a thorough review of the product to include the nutritional profile, program contribution, and cost analysis. Then food manufacturers will typically present the approved products to the SFS administrative team for further review of preparation methods and overall assessment.

Once the product is approved by the SFS administrative team, the product is then sent out to sites for school-based testing. Many times schools of the Menu Advisory Board members are utilized for this testing. As part of their participation in this Board, they have been trained on how to administer school-based testing to ensure proper feedback is collected. While student feedback is most important, they also provide reviews on how the product cooks, if it holds temperature, if they would recommend an alternative cooking method, additional applications, etc.

The SFS Department continues to utilize a database that was designed specifically to document the evaluation process. Each item that is approved for the product testing is entered into the product evaluation database. Each item is given an individual reference number. When a school site is selected to test the product, the SFS Manager will have access to the database and the corresponding reference number. Once the feedback is entered into the database, the SFS Department has the ability to run reports and compare like items tested throughout the school year.

The SFS Department continues to utilize Nutrislice, an online menu platform. Nutrislice allows users to receive menu information as well as have access to specific information about each item that is being offered including photos, descriptions, nutritional and allergen information. In addition, parents and students will have the opportunity to view the menus specific to their school(s). Translated menus and printable pdf menus will also be available through this website.

The SFS Department encourages you to access the new online menus page by visiting www.palmbeachschools.org/sfs. From there, click on “District Menus” and then “View Menus.” This will take you directly into Nutrislice where you will select your school and type of menu to view. In addition to the online website, a free iPhone and Android school menus app (School Lunch by Nutrislice) is available which can be downloaded in the Apple App Store or Android Market Place.

Parents and students now have multiple ways to view and get important information regarding the District’s menus. So, whether you would prefer to print the menu or get your information on-the-go menu information is now at your fingertips.

The School District of Palm Beach County is the 11th largest school district in the nation, and the 5th largest in the state of Florida. Because of its diverse population, every day the SFS Department offers a variety of entrées for students to choose from. Due to an increase in students requesting vegetarian meals, the department began offering a vegetarian choice every day. This practice has been in place since January, 2009. Some of the most popular vegetarian items are Meatless Lasagna, Cheese Pizza, Chili, Peanut Butter and Jelly, and Muffin Platter.

For years, the SFS Department evaluated the nutritional integrity of a la carte offerings at all levels and had established criteria that aligned with the guidance of the HealthierUS School Challenge (HUSSC) the Alliance for a Healthier Generation (AHG) criteria. Then on July 1, 2014 new legislation went into effect. As part of the Healthy Hunger-Free Kids of 2010, the United States Department of Agriculture was required to establish nutrition standards for all foods and beverages sold in school. This new legislation, Smart Snacks in School, not only applied to a la carte sold by the School Food Service Department, but for all foods and beverages sold to students during the school day to include vending machines, school stores, snack bars, food/beverage related fundraisers, and afterschool snacks.

In an effort to communicate the new criteria, the SFS Department sent a District bulletin to all principals, assistant principals, area superintendents, and school food service managers. As with all new legislation communication and timing are essential to ensure schools are moving in the right direction. The SFS Department has provided many schools with support and ideas to evolve their fundraising effort beyond food and beverages.

The School District of Palm Beach County offers the convenience of online prepayments to all students registered in the District. This service provides parents with a means of making secure payments any time of the day for their child’s activities and cafeteria meal account. It is an easy to use online shopping environment where you can use credit cards, eChecks, or pre-pay eWallet. This service allows parents to manage school and meal expenses, view the Free and Reduced-Price Meal Benefits webpage and click on the button titled “Meal Accounts – Payment & Purchase History.”