Healthier Schools with EATS Park City

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Students in the Park City School District (20.7% Latino) will now be offered fresh school meals made without unneeded and unhealthy ingredients.

The school has decided to take out five ingredients including, trans-fat, high-fructose syrup, monosodium glutamate (MSG), sucralose and sulfites.

Since 2012, a non-profit group called EATS Park City has been advocating for healthier school meals for the district, giving out samples to elementary students for taste test trials, encouraging the district to move away from processed foods, and more to fresh, made-from-scratch meals.

“It’s been a long time coming, but it takes a while to gain that support in the community and to gain that support with the school district and the school board. I can’t tell you how pleased we are with the progress that’s been made,” Ann Bloomquist, executive director of EATS Park City told local news.

The district plans to make these changes through a three-year plan with $190,000 budgeted, hoping to limit meals to 15 ingredients, calling the initiative, “15 to Clean”.

They also plan on having after-school cooking classes to let students become more involved in inventing new recipes and also becoming more invested in taste testing new fresh foods, explained Bloomquist.

Having fresh vegetables and fruits in school meals is vital to ensuring students get the most nutrition in the calories that they eat at school.

Healthier food environments at school help students focus and get the energy they need to learn well and fell well.

To learn more about the importance of healthier food environments in schools for Latino kids, click here.