12.19.2013 Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced today that California will be among the 14 states eligible for U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) grants for new school food service equipment to help schools improve the quality of meals.
USDA will be awarding $11 million in grants to help schools purchase needed equipment to make preparing and serving healthier meals easier and more efficient for hardworking school food service professionals. link
USDA’s announcement of these grants comes alongside a report from Kids’Safe and Healthful Foods Project, a collaboration between The Pew Charitable Trusts and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, that demonstrates that schools could better serve healthy and appealing meals if they had upgraded equipment and infrastructure. Serving Healthy School Meals: U.S. schools need updated kitchen equipment outlines districts’infrastructure and equipment challenges, and provides recommendations to help find ways to meet schools’needs.
In addition to the report, Kids’ Safe and Healthful Foods Project released a number of materials to illustrate the role that kitchen equipment and infrastructure play in a school’s ability to serve healthy meals. These materials include videos, infographics and workshop proceedings. link
