New Menu Items Could Be Headed To St. Cloud Lunch Trays

(KNSI) – The people who feed Minnesota’s schoolchildren are walking the River’s Edge Convention Center floor stacked with chicken nuggets, Pad Thai and whole-grain pizza crust, hunting for what will land on future lunch trays.

More than 600 school nutrition professionals are in St. Cloud this week for the Minnesota School Nutrition Association’s 69th Annual Conference. Tuesday’s exhibit show is the centerpiece, with 160 vendor booths selling food, equipment and technology built specifically for school kitchens.

Glen Ritter, the association’s president and food service director at St. Michael-Albertville Schools, told KNSI News the show is the largest of its kind in the Midwest.

Ritter has worked in school nutrition for 22 years and said public perception of cafeteria food has not kept up with what districts actually serve. “So I always encourage parents in my community to come into school, have lunch with your kids, and see what we actually serve, because I think there is that misconception, and sometimes school lunch gets a bad rap, but it’s a heck of a lot better than what it was when we were kids.”

He also pointed to Minnesota’s universal free school meals as a program worth the cost, saying it removes the stigma that kept some students from eating breakfast at all. “Kids can’t learn when they’re hungry, but they also need the right fuel in their bodies to learn and grow. And that’s what we all strive for. We all have a passion for that,” Ritter said.

Ritter said many children do not have reliable nutrition at home, and that evenings, weekends and summers remain gaps. Summer meal sites exist, but they are tied to income guidelines in specific areas and do not reach every family.

The conference is not only a food show. Nutrition staff are required to complete annual professional development, and sessions cover scratch cooking, customer service, kitchen safety, farm-to-school programs and federal meal rules from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Schools are also waiting on new USDA regulations that will align school nutrition standards with the updated Dietary Guidelines for Americans.

Those rules shape nearly everything on the tray. Every student must be offered a protein, a grain, a fruit, a vegetable and milk, with hard caps on sodium and added sugar in both breakfast and lunch. That is why the pizza and cereal on the exhibit floor are not quite the same as those on grocery shelves.

St. Cloud Area School District Nutrition Services Supervisor Sarah Motl talks with a vendor about food that could end up on the ISD 742 menu. Jake Judd/KNSI News

Sarah Motl, nutrition services supervisor for the St. Cloud Area School District, is responsible for feeding 9,700 students twice a day. She said manufacturers reformulate their products for the K-12 market while keeping the packaging and brand names kids recognize. “Even though our products may look like the products in the grocery store, they’re made specially for K-12 schools. And so they have reduced sodium, they have reduced sugar, they’re made with whole grains, they meet all of these regulations that we have to follow.”

Motl worked the floor Tuesday shopping mostly for winter and spring menus. “So I’m always looking for new breakfast items, especially savory protein focused breakfast. We’re trying to move away from the sugary breakfast into that protein area more. So always looking for new items for that. And then just anything that’s new that the students might like.”

She said students are asking for more unique flavors on the menu.

Two products on her list could end up on lunch trays: a buffalo chicken drumstick and a Pad Thai. Motl said her students have been gravitating toward spicier flavor profiles, and she typically adds two or three new items a year, taste-testing them with students before committing.

That process has paid off locally. A sweet Thai chicken ramen bowl Motl found at last year’s conference goes on the regular St. Cloud menu this fall, and Hoyo Sambusa, made in Minneapolis, has been served every other month and remains a favorite with students and staff. She says orange chicken and the high school spicy chicken sandwich are among the students’ favorites.

The conference wraps up Wednesday. MSNA, founded in 1956, represents more than 2,500 members statewide. The conference plans to return to St. Cloud again next year.

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