Healthier School Meals: Bulloch County Schools Seeks Eat Real Certification

Bulloch County Schools has embarked on a two-year journey to seek national Eat Real Certification for its School Nutrition Services. 

This is part of the school district's continued effort to provide healthier school meals by sourcing more local foods, preparing more meals from scratch, and prioritizing more fresh and sustainable food ingredients to improve meal quality.   

"School nutrition is heart work," said Desiree Yaeger, the district's school nutrition director. "In our school cafeterias, we want to help children create lifelong healthy eating habits and offer them the chance to experience flavors that are both seasonal and beneficial."Yaeger leads a team of 85 school nutrition staff spread across 14 cafeterias, providing meal service to 16 campuses, and a central office and warehouse facility. They are now one of only three programs in Georgia selected to pursue the Eat Real Certification.

The Eat Real certification process will evaluate Bulloch County's School Nutrition Services on ten different standards that measure 34 key performance indicators. This review goes above and beyond federal and state child nutrition program regulations. It will cover everything from nutrition, freshness, and minimal processing to responsible, sustainable production and procurement practices. The ten Eat Real standards are the following: reduced sugar, whole grains, fresh choices, healthy fats, minimal processing, menu variety, sustainable produce, responsible proteins, waste prevention, and real food education.

Beginning this certification process demonstrates Bulloch County Schools’ continued commitment to serve meals that are sourced responsibly, are more delicious and nutritious, and support the health and well-being of students. In turn, Eat Real certification will help schools continue to boost student participation in school meal programs. There are four levels of certification: Green, Silver, Gold and Platinum. This inspires districts to continuously improve meal menus and practices over time.  
"The impact that these ambitious school nutrition leaders have on students’ health is astounding," said Nora LaTorre, chief executive officer of Eat Real. "We are grateful that they and their teams are willing to go above and beyond to put real food on the table for their students." Bulloch County Schools serve more than 1.8 million meals annually, making the school district one of the community's largest restaurants. Since children eating breakfast and lunch at school receive 50% or more of their daily calories from school meals, the district wants to fuel learning in healthier ways. These are some of the district's other best practices:

• Increased partnerships with local and area farmers for fresh, locally-sourced produce and proteins;
• Use of the Food Guide for Better School Purchasing to ensure it only purchases food products with safe ingredients;
• Membership in the Healthy Kids Collaborative which is part of the Culinary Institute of America. This provides professional development and innovative techniques to school nutrition leaders;
• Hosting taste-testing events with students; and
• Use of digital menus with nutrition information and allergen alerts for parents and students to readily review.

Eat Real’s mission is to nourish the future of American children by putting real food on the table at school, at home, and in local and federal policy. Learn more about Eat Real.