The Hartford Food System

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In a city where 32% of low-income children are overweight, Hartford schools must play a greater role in preventing childhood obesity.

Parents Win Important Changes to School Menu

On November 2, Padres para el Mejoramiento de Comidas Escolares (Parents for the Improvement of School Food) met with Hartford Mayor Eddie Perez to win his public commitment to improve school food. Assembling in the social hall of a neighborhood church, parent leaders came with a list of specific recommendations for the Mayor. The Mayor was accompanied at the meeting by the city’s Health Department director and school food director.

Following some bargaining about the final points of agreement, the meeting's outcome was a clear victory for Hartford parents and their children:

Fast foods and pre-fried foods will be significantly reduced. Parents and students will serve on tasting panels as the school district chooses healthier entrees from food vendors to replace these items.
Onion rings are high in fat and will be removed from the menu.
Mayonnaise in tuna salad and cream cheese on bagels will now be nonfat.
High-carbohydrate side dishes like mashed potatoes will appear less frequently on the menu.
Menus will feature more bean dishes, which are an excellent source of fiber and soluble protein.
Hartford will implement an action plan to address the district’s higher-than-average number of food safety citations in school cafeterias.
The Health Department will act immediately on complaints about sour milk by monitoring and enforcing proper refrigeration practices.

Parents were sympathetic to the challenges that school administrators face in serving more than 20,000 meals a day to Hartford children. The budget is tight – roughly $1 per child each meal – and all agreed that deeper collaboration between the food service, parents, and students is essential to achieve these school food improvements.

Padres para el Mejorameinto de Comidas Escolares is a parents committee founded by the Hartford Food System earlier this year. Leaders from the group had met previously with the school food director, staff from the Board of Education, the Health Department director, and Mayor Perez to lay the groundwork for this larger community meeting.

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