Kansas Beef Council Promotes Beef as a Nutritious Solution for School-Age Children
Source: Kansas Beef Council
With kids back in school for the spring semester, the Kansas Beef Council (KBC) continues to remind menu planners that good nutrition is essential for success in the classroom.
"Throughout the school year, it's important to incorporate high-quality protein like lean beef into meals to help fuel an active, healthy lifestyle for children of all ages," said Audrey Monroe, KBC Director of Nutrition. "A single serving of beef provides nearly 50 percent of the Daily Value for protein and provides 10 essential nutrients kids need for healthy growth and development."
KBC again is partnering with the Kansas Department of Agriculture and the Kansas State Department of Education to feature beef on school lunch menus during Kansas School Lunch Week, January 27-31. Monday, January 27, was designated "Kansas Beef Day," and schools across the state were encouraged to serve a beef dish at lunch as well as read fun facts about the beef industry during morning announcements. KBC also partnered with Olathe Public Schools (OPS) to further extend Kansas Beef Day efforts. The OPS lunch menu will feature ground beef chili, a long-standing OPS favorite, on January 30. OPS children will take home kid-friendly beef recipes, information about beef nutrition and an activity to encourage their parents to navigate through www.BeefItsWhatsForDinner.com.
In 2013, five new ground beef recipes that meet school lunch guidelines were created by the beef checkoff program. KBC, along with beef councils in four other states, field-tested the new recipes with students and school foodservice staff in elementary, middle and high schools. KBC has worked to get these new recipes into the hands of Kansas school foodservice directors by presenting and sampling recipes at the Kansas School Nutrition Association meeting and providing the recipes to Kansas school foodservice directors and family and consumer science teachers.
The national beef checkoff program aided in highlighting the new ground beef school recipes in a seven-page spread, "Beef. It's What's For School Lunch," in the October 2013 School Nutrition magazine. Third-party dietitian and school nutrition expert Dayle Hayes, MS, RD, authored the series, which reached members of the School Nutrition Association who collectively serve 30.9 million children. Hayes' article featured information about beef's nutritional value as well as creative culinary ideas for menuing beef in schools.
