Food Services Tour

A few months ago a group of moms started talking about the IPS lunches. They had some questions regarding the food itself, but also the way the lunch is served and the conditions of the lunch room.

On June 21st a few of us met at the IPS Food Services Center for a tour.


Here we all are. Pictures are parents from CFI 2, 84, and 27 and Jane Cookson, Director of Foodservice.

We all met at 8:30 am. The food service center was easy enough to find, but not as easy to get in to. One mom referred to it as Fort Knox. A few of us downed our remaining coffee in the parking lot before heading in. Again, we had to be buzzed in.

We were greeted right away by Jane and Steven Gudorf, Foodservice Project Manager.
The tour started with a powerpoint giving loads of information on how foodservices is managed. Because IPS receives the Federal Funds for 90% of the meals, IPS is held by very strict guidelines by the USDA. They gave us information calorie count by grad level, fruit and vegetable components, cost factors, ordering procedures,meat and grain components, and much more. Enough guidelines and restriction to give you a headache.

I think the group was pleasantly surprised at the health quality of the food. The whole grains, fresh fruits and vegetables, low fat dressings, NO FRIED FOODS!
One concern that did come up was the SPORK.




It is almost impossible to eat crisp lettuce in a salad with a spork. However to replace the spork with a fork / spoon combo it costs and additional 3 cents. Let's do the math. Roughly 26,000 eat lunch a day (not including breakfast). That's $780.00 a day. Times 180 days of school = $140,400 a year. Jane said she would rather that money be put into the food that is eaten. And I agree with her, but the spork is simply awful.

Next on the tour was a chilly walk through food services. Being summer the center is preparing about 3,000 lunches. If you don't know IPS has certain school all over the district that prepare breakfast and lunch at no cost to anyone under the age of 18. THis is still funded by the federal government, but controlled by IPS.

To take the tour we had to pull back our hair in a net and wear the gowns. We then walked through some foam spray that cleaned our shoes, and maybe a little of our pants.
I wish I would have thought to take pictures once we were back there. It was very clean, efficient, organized, and cold. THe entire area is kept around 40 degrees. Except the freezer which is 12 below. We didn't stay there too long at all.
On the menu that day was chicken salad and fresh strawberries. These strawberries looked beautiful.

All in all it was a great tour. THere are still concerns and improvements to be made, but a lot of these are at the school level. One main concern being the amount of time children have to eat. How they are treated while they are eating, and the limitations of talking. I still stand my ground on the milk.

Jane and Steve did an amazing job with the tour. THey answered all our questions and were extremely knowledgeable. I really appreciate the fact that they took timeout of their day to do this for us. As a board ember, I am glad I have this knowledge. As a mom I am happy to be apart of this group. THank you to al who showed up and Julie who organized.