Taste testing improving student meals, eating

The Taste-Testing Panel crew is at it again. Our Clovis Municipal Schools food services department remains increasingly proactive when it comes to encouraging students to eat healthy foods.

Last fall our nutrition crew, headed up by Deborah Westbrook and Sharon Garcia, began taste-testing in the district to solicit feedback from students when new food items are introduced. The first taste-testing was done at CHS Freshman Academy. With positive response from the student test panel, it was rolled out, and students eating school meals increased significantly during the ensuing months as a direct result.

Not only has input been sought from students, but from cafeteria staff as well. With regular menu meetings, each school site has an opportunity to customize certain items. Foods offered are strictly controlled, of course, by state and federal mandates, and each menu goes through a nutritional analysis computer program to ensure each age group receives the needed nutrition designated by developmental needs.

After the CHSFA taste-testing event, more taste-testing panels were implemented at other school sites; one at Marshall Middle School and another at Parkview Elementary, and those results have been incorporated into the ongoing menus and rolled out.

In addition to the nutritionally balanced foods offered in the school cafeterias, fresh, raw fruits and vegetables are included every single day. “Students love these, and we now rarely see any of these go to waste,” Westbrook said. She went on to emphasize the importance of not how many meals are served, but how many meals kids actually eat; that’s what counts.

Another taste-testing panel is coming up soon at Clovis High School. The item will be salad cups. With a ready supply of transparent cups already on hand, salad ingredients are layered within the cup, with a packet of salad dressing on top. These salad cups had been tried out elsewhere, and the kids were crazy about these, consuming every last bite, with nothing going to waste.

Whether it’s the novelty of the manner of serving, or another factor, the CHS taste-testers’ response will provide valuable data.

Years spent as a principal has well prepared Westbrook for feeding students across the district. For example, when school is virtual, we still must provide nutritionally sound meals to kids. “One thing learned is that when we’re sending meals home, kids need to have meals that don’t have to be cooked; parents and guardians may be working or absent, with kids unable to safely cook a meal; they need to have meals that don’t have to be cooked.” Hence, our “lunchables,” which contain a protein, cheese, grain, and we add a vegetable and a fruit.

Cindy Kleyn-Kennedy is the Instructional Technology Coordinator for the Clovis Municipal Schools and can be reached at:

[email protected]