New Jersey Secretary of Agriculture Ed Wengryn marked National School Lunch Week with a visit to Timberlane Middle School in Mercer County on Tuesday, October 15, to learn about the school’s and Hopewell Valley Regional School District’s student meal program.
Secretary Wengryn was joined by USDA staff and other state and local officials. The school was recently recognized by the USDA and Action for Healthy Kids with a Healthy Meals Initiative Award for Innovation in the Preparation of School Meals.
The visit included seeing the lunchroom set-up at the school, which features a farm stand that provides the option for students to have fresh fruits and vegetables each day. Today’s menu featured General Tso chicken with locally grown baby bok choy, the farmstand with several fruits and vegetables, a variety of chicken tenders including grilled, a build-your-own burger stop, a pasta station, and a pizza zone. Students also had the option to choose a garden salad, or Caeser salad with a dinner roll.
“Timberlane Middle School and the Hopewell Valley Regional School District demonstrated today that they are very deserving of their Healthy Meals Initiative recognition by the USDA,” Secretary Wengryn said. “By offering a variety of foods with healthy options, schools have the opportunity to begin the process of students engaging in habits that can lead to a lifetime of better health through nutrition.”
The Hopewell Valley Regional School participates in the USDA Department of Defense Direct Delivery Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program, which allows schools to use commodity funds to buy fresh produce. The District has diverted more than $90,000 to the program for School Year 2024-2025.
“Establishing healthy eating habits at an early age is a key component to leading an active lifestyle,” Hopewell Valley Regional School District Superintendent Dr. Rosetta Treece said. “Our students have the opportunity to make good choices about what they eat with a wide range of high-quality options available here.”
New Jersey schools follow the nutrition standards set forth by the USDA, which incorporates a wide variety of fruits and vegetables, whole grains, and low-fat and fat-free milk options, with limitations on saturated fats, trans-fats, sodium, and calories.
The Meals Incentives Recognition Awards recognize and celebrate School Food Authorities (SFA) who made operational changes to improve the nutritional quality of their school meals, as well as SFAs who engage students and families in nutrition education and in the planning and preparation of nutritious school meals.
“The USDA works with states and school nutrition professionals to provide kids with tasty and nutritious school meals to support their health and well-being,” said USDA Food and Nutrition Service Mid-Atlantic Regional Deputy Administrator Diana Limbacher. “We commend the New Jersey Department of Agriculture for their strong school meals program and want to recognize the hard work of the Hopewell Valley Regional School District to win a 2024 Healthy Meals Incentive Award for Innovation in the Preparation of School Meals.
“We recognize that students want to eat meals that are both healthy and delicious. We applaud the District for their menu preparations based on student preferences and tasty scratch recipes. This award sets them up as a model of success for other districts.”
National School Lunch Week was created by the School Nutrition Association to encourage participation in the National School Lunch Program and recognize the school districts providing healthy meals every day. The New Jersey Department of Agriculture administers the program in the Garden State. Close to 670,000 children in New Jersey participate in the National School Lunch Program.
To learn more about the state’s school lunch program, visitwww.nj.gov/agriculture/divisions/fn/childadult/school.html.
