Iowa Healthy Kids Act: Changing Lunch Choices

In one week, Sioux City kids will go back to school and the Healthy Kids Act of Iowa is changing what foods the district can offer. Healthy lunch choices will now be easier to make.

The Healthy Kids Act went into effect July 1st and changes district guidelines to lower sodium and fat and eliminate carbonation and white bread.

"Get the meals as healthy as possible and as nutritious as possible," says Rich Luze, Food Service Director.

The biggest noticeable change - no more french fries, in fact the district sold all its fryers.

"They'll still be offered but in the bakeable version and less frequently," says Luze.

Healthier options help kids meet the federal nutrition guidelines displayed in all school cafeterias.

"Not only see it on the wall but then see it on the plate and get it to all sink in, hopefully," says Luze.

Parents who pack a sack lunch can make those same choices for their kids and get it to school safely.

"There's a lot nice little lunch bags out there and if you can get those freezer gel packs to put in the lunch bags, that will help keep the lunch healthy and safe," says Judy Held, St. Luke's Registered Dietitian.

Either way, the goal of the Healthy Kids Act is to help lower childhood obesity and diabetes.

"We want everybody to be healthy. If we can start with kids being healthy, then, in the long run, we're going to have healthier adults and we're going to have less medical issues, less costs as those as those kids age and become grownups," says Held.

Sioux City Schools follow the "offer versus serve" guideline by offering a grain, meat, fruit, vegetable and dairy component for each meal. Students can take all five or say no to one or two of them.

By Thursday, the district will begin cooking all of those meals out of its new central kitchen at 3000 North Highway 75 in Sioux City. The nearly $2 million renovation streamlines production with new, more modern equipment. The new building is smaller but uses the space more efficiently. Food service serves 7,000 hot meals a day during the school year and now has the capacity to expand to 12,000 at its facility on the North side.

"And we're right on Highway 75 so we're on three intersections basically of thoroughfares so it'll still be very efficient and puts us on the right side of the tracks, if you will," says Luze.

A new dishwasher can clean 13,000 trays an hour. Luze hopes to wean the district off of Styrofoam trays in the near future.