After-school snacks and meals for the elderly have become increasingly popular and are often prepared by school foodservice personnel with little additional labor costs. One of the most important changes in the past 50 years is the increasing sophistication of our students as customers. Children today do more of their own purchasing than ever before. Raised in a society with fast-food restaurants on every corner and food courts in every shopping mall, students demand variety and choice when making their food purchases. School foodservice operations have met this challenge in a variety of ways.
Most schools now offer expanded menus including numerous choices of entrees and side dishes.
Increasingly, schools are also adding ethnic, lower fat and lower sodium foods to their menu. Though for years many schools have been serving meals that meet the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, new USDA regulations and the passage of the Healthy Meals for Healthy Americans Act have brought that challenge to the forefront for all schools. We are very proud to report that, through training and technical assistance, school nutrition programs have made great strides in meeting this goal. There are even some state-wide initiatives to assist schools in this endeavor. These programs have been successful because they focus beyond just providing healthy schools meals, to actually changing students' interaction with food in every setting, even when they are at home or out with friends.