School Nutrition

Get ready to fix your sweetheart a wonderfully easy and delicious dessert for Valentine’s Day. Even if you don’t have the time or energy to prepare an entire meal, he or she will be impressed with this dessert. Raspberry Lovers’ Pudding takes only 15 minutes to make in advance and then chill overnight or 24 hours until the perfect time for serving.  This is also a great dessert for a Valentine’s Day dinner party.

RASPBERRY LOVERS’ PUDDING

Ingredients

2 12-ounce bags frozen, unsweetened raspberries, thawedRead more

First Lady Michelle Obama and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack today unveiled new standards for school meals that will result in healthier meals for kids across the nation. The new meal requirements will raise standards for the first time in more than fifteen years and improve the health and nutrition of nearly 32 million kids that participate in school meal programs every school day.Read more

The Food and Drug Administration’s Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition and the Joint Institute for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition are sponsoring a Dietetics and Nutrition Webinar on March 5 and 6, 2012, from 11:00 a.m. until 5:00 p.m. Eastern Standard Time. The Webinar is designed for dietetic interns, students and faculty in dietetics and nutrition, and practitioners in dietetics, nutrition and other professional areas. Other interested parties may also participate.Read more

In Burke County, Ga., where 48 percent of children live below the poverty line, 85 percent of students qualify for free school breakfast and lunch, but many students were going without meals at home. Consequently, the high school football team was suffering.Read more

Since Springfield, Missouri’s Williams Elementary School began serving free breakfast in the classroom, teachers and staff have noticed that the students are more alert, focused and calm. More students arrive at school on time, and absences are down. Fewer students are visiting the nurse’s office for stomachaches, getting into fights, or asking how long it is until lunch. “Food is fuel for the brain and body, and some were literally coming to school empty,” said Wanita Watts, Springfield Public Schools’ nutritional services director.Read more

A New York Times analysis of federal data shows the number of children receiving free or reduced-price school lunch increased 17 percent, from 18 million in 2006-07 to 21 million in the last school year. Nearly a dozen states experienced increases of 25 percent or more – including Nevada, Florida, Tennessee and New Jersey.Read more