Excuses, excuses...

If you've been following the news about school lunch at all, you probably know by now that USDA has changed school lunch nutrition requirements. We at Organic Fresh Fingers are excited about these changes, as they are a step in the right direction to serving children healthier food. Organic Fresh Fingers is already following most of these new requirements as part of our guiding principles.

But, as expected, a lot of school lunch coordinators across the country are sounding off about how difficult these changes will be to implement and whether are not children will like the food. Here's just one example of the types of comments and excuses being made:

"The USDA wants to reduce sodium content of lunches to a scant quarter teaspoon per day, or around 640 milligrams, depending on the child's grade level. The average school lunch currently has about 1,400 milligrams of sodium in it, according to USDA.

In other words, just the ham in a sandwich would be above the proposed limit.

"I can give them a bread sandwich!" said Dickl, joking. "A bread sandwich, milk and some vegetables, with that level of sodium."

Most lunch lines in the region have already done away with salt shakers and packets, administrators say, but there's still hidden salt in most foods.

"How do you do all that and have the kids eat?" asked Karen Helton, food service coordinator for Blount County Schools. "How do you make a teaspoon of salt go all week?"

Eventually manufacturers will come out with more low-sodium foods, USDA says. Whether they'll taste good is another issue, administrators counter.

"In high school, their palates are already developed," said Margaret Burrell, school nutrition program director for Anderson County Schools.

"If you cut the sodium too much, and you stop frying anything, then you get into the fact that they'll just stop eating with you, period." - Knoxnews.com

Organic Fresh Fingers knows from experience that it is possible to make healthy and delicious foods that kids enjoy eating. You won't find any complaints from us about how it is hard to serve healthy food. We know that it's not difficult - it just takes a commitment to quality and health that most school food providers don't have.