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Students in Vermilion Parish receive approved portions for lunch.

Vermilion Parish school officials try to spice up cafeteria food

There may be some good news for kids complaining that their school lunches are unappetizing and leave them hungry.
The Vermilion Parish School Board has heard their complaints loud and clear. Starting last week, the school system has begun spicing up the menu.
On Thursday, for example, all high schools and middle schools had chicken stew with vegetables and fruit.
What made this chicken dinner different is the meat the schools used. In the past, the schools would use diced dark meat and white chicken that was unseasoned.
This time, the cafeteria cooks used already seasoned fajita chicken. The meat was over brown rice.
Also on the plate were two vegetables, fruit and a wheat bread.
The black eye peas and spinach were both cooked differently and were creamier than in the past.
A more moist meat loaf was cooked Wednesday while Tuesday it was sausage and tomato gravy over brown rice.
According to Amy Fremin, the parish’s child nutritionist, more no salt seasoning is being added.
“We have made adjustments to the recipes and taken feed-back from the students and workers,” said Fremin as she ate the new style of chicken stew in the North Vermilion cafeteria. “We are looking to local vendors for no salt seasoning to give more flavor and variety.”
Fremin admitted the parish added a tiny amount of more salt, all within the Federal Guidelines. The cooks added 1/2 of a teaspoon of salt for every 50 servings.
She said she was also talking to other school districts to find out how they are preparing their lunches and are students eating.
The healthy lunch rules had initially been adopted in 2012 as part of a law designed to improve school breakfasts and lunches, called the Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010.
The modifications are aimed at limiting fat and salt, reducing portion sizes and increasing fruit and vegetable servings. For kindergarteners through fifth graders, their meals were capped at 650 calories. Sixth through eighth graders were allowed 700 calories per meal, while high schoolers got 850.
Some schools in the United States announced last year that they were leaving the National School Lunch Program, which pays schools for the meals they serve and sells them lower-priced items. Vermilion Parish receives around $3 million from the National School Lunch Program.

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