State eases restrictions on cafeteria food

Connie McKinney has good news for Clarendon Elementary students. They can still eat French fries in the school cafeteria.

But before a celebration gets out of hand, McKinney, who is the director of the CISD cafeteria, notes that kids in Kindergarten through the fifth grade can only have fries once a week and the servings must be limited to three ounces.

“That’s about five or six fries,” McKinney said.

Still, that represents an easement in a string of changes handed down earlier this year by Texas Agriculture Commissioner Susan Combs in her crusade against what she has called a “childhood obesity epidemic.” Nutrition policies, which took effect August 1, require schools to eliminate all fried foods and to limit the portion sizes and fat and sugar contents of other food items.

Originally, school officials were told to get rid of their deep fryers by 2006 and that all foods that once were fried must now be baked, including French fries, corndogs, and burritos. But in a seminar last week McKinney was informed that the cafeteria could keep its fryer until 2009.

“Too many people complained about oven space,” McKinney said. “If you’re serving pigs-in-blankets, baked beans, and French fries all on one day, that would require a lot of oven space.”

McKinney says the rules allow junior high students to have French fries in three-ounce services three times a week and permits high school students to have fries every day. Junior high kids also can still have iced tea; but McKinney has to put less sugar in it, and she can only serve it in eight ounce glasses instead of ten ounce glasses.

The cafeteria also has to serve more fresh fruit and less canned fruit in order to cut back on the amount of sugar being served.

CISD officials worried earlier this year that the new regulations would spell the death of the junior high and high school a la carte lines, but McKinney says those are still safe for now.

“You’ve got to get them [the kids] to eat something,” she said.

McKinney has her own questions about the new guidelines which limits servings of fries but still permits a lot of breads in school menus.

“I’ve asked them about being able to serve ten breads [five for breakfast and five for lunch] per week, and they said there were no plans to change that,” McKinney said. “Ten breads a week. That’s a lot of carbohydrates.”

Texas schools are not in a position to ignore Combs’ mandates. If CISD doesn’t comply, the school can lose up to $1.20 at breakfast and $2.19 at lunch in federal reimbursements for each meal lost to a competitive food sale.