Changes Come to LAUSD Food Services
by Ryan Park
LAUSD is the second-largest school district in the nation, enrolling roughly 560,000 students across the city. Handling such a massive student population comes with the hefty task of feeding those students. LAUSD’s Food Services Department serves an excess of 500,000 meals a day. These meals include 321,000 breakfasts, 260,000 lunches, and 49,000 dinners, but what goes into serving all these meals? I sat down with the Director of Food Services, Singh Manishm, and he gave me a better understanding of what the Department of Food Services is tasked with.
Finger-tip Facts: Let’s first get into some quick facts about the Department of Food Services:
- All schools offer fresh fruits and vegetable bars daily.
- Secondary schools provide up to 7 daily options, including fresh salads, vegan, and vegetarian options.
- Schools have an active partnership with the Farm2School Program, a program where fresh produce goes directly from farms to school cafeterias
- 25 members of the culinary staff have gone through training with more to come from the active partnership with the Culinary Institute of America (CIA)
- The Department of Food Services has also hired a Culinary Institute Supervisor
- Roughly around 75-80 staff members are in training with the CIA currently
- All menu items are student-approved and can be found on the YumYummi app
- LAUSD has introduced its first food truck with more to come soon!
Regulations and Standards
Due to school meals being governed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the Food Service Department must ensure all their meals follow regulations. For example, consider the school pizza. You may wonder why the dough isn’t like your typical Domino’s pizza, but it’s due to a regulation where school lunches must contain whole grains.
Here are some other regulations that the Food Services Department must follow:
- Fruits and vegetables must be served daily
- Meals must adhere to USDA sugar and calorie limits
- Meals must be low in sodium
- Meals must not contain added trans fat, nitrates, sulfites, artificial colors, or sweeteners
- All food served is rich in whole grains
Finances
Have you ever seen the lunch lady at your school cafeteria holding a clipboard as you grab your lunch and wondered, what is she doing? You may also occasionally be asked to pick up an extra fruit or side dish. This is because for each meal students are served, LAUSD is reimbursed for the money they spend. Additionally, under California’s Universal Meals Programs, everyone can get breakfast and lunch at no charge. The prices of reimbursement vary for the different types of meals.
Here are the reimbursement rates for LAUSD meals:
- $3.69 for every breakfast
- $5.32 for every lunch
- $4.45 for every supper
Food Improvement Plans
After hearing feedback from students, the Food Services department is actively trying to improve school menus and rebrand itself to increase student satisfaction with meals. They are currently working on multiple projects to appeal to students as they are the sole customers of this program. One of the ways they plan on accomplishing this is by developing new menu items. It starts with the department contacting its suppliers for new innovative meals. They then take all these new dishes to an event that occurs twice a year, called Farm2School Fest. At the event, they show off produce and meals to schools in a certain neighborhood and have students rate them. Meals must receive an approval rating of 75-80% from students; otherwise, the meals are rejected and sent back to the suppliers to be reworked.
Some of the new meals that have been approved are:
- Overnight apple cinnamon oats
- Cajun chicken salad sandwich
- Ham and cheese croissant
- Buffalo wings
- Bahn mi sandwiches
- Vanilla yogurt with homemade granola
- Alfredo pasta with chicken and broccoli
- Popcorn chicken with grits
- Ramen bowls
- Homemade granola
To prep these meals, LAUSD has invested in new combi ovens to help create fresh meals for students. These types of ovens allow for staff to cook meals via three methods: convection, steam, and a combination of steam and convection. They also aim to entice students to the cafeteria not just with new delicious meals, but also a different environment. Using new resources, they plan on “freshening” school cafeterias and providing charging stations for students. The District has also made the first-ever food truck that tours schools in LAUSD and offers different dishes. Another approach is to have students be more hands-on with the food that they are consuming. Hydroponic units have been provided to schools where students may learn how to grow fresh plants and harvest them.
YumYummi App
For more information on all the meals LAUSD provides, download the YumYummi app. It contains a schedule of meals for each school and also provides nutritional information, such as calories and possible allergic concerns. You can find more information about the app at lausd.yumyummi.com!