Sea Cliff Nutrition Committee. The Apple People

Sea Cliff Nutrition Committee. The Apple People

Monday, November 25, 2013

What's for Lunch, Tuesday 11/26/2013

Southwest Taco Bowl

Corn Tortilla Bowl
Brown Rice, Tomato, Cheese, Salsa, & Romaine
Chipotle Vinaigrette
Zesty Black Beans
Sweet Corn
*Add Chicken on Request*
 
Pineapple Chunks in Juice
The brown rice is a great whole grain. The black beans are canned. I'm assuming the same for the corn .

The southwest-style chicken is from Tyson and described as diced, cooked "chicken meat." Read more about farm animals raised by industrial giants like Tyson,  antibiotics and hormones.  The bowl comes from Smokewood Foods. The ingredients are described just as "enriched masa flour" and they look like a big rectangular corn chip. They have 5g of fat and no sodium.  

GF 
NO SALAD BAR TODAY

 

Sunday, November 24, 2013

What's for Lunch, Monday 11/25/2013

Flatbread Cheese Pizza - Add Chicken on Request* 

Caesar Salad
Strawberry Smoothie

Unlike many schools, we do make these pizzas. This is a white-flour pizza (not whole grain). The sauce is a Red Pack vitamin enhanced tomato sauce. The sodium at 140mg is much lower than we previously used.  Here are the ingredients: Tomato Concentrate (Water, Tomato Paste), Sugar, Soybean Oil, Potassium Chloride, Onion Powder, Salt, Citric Acid, Spice, Garlic Powder, Vitamin C (Ascorbic Acid), Black Pepper, Vitamin E (DL-Alpha Tocopheryl Acetate), Natural Flavor, Vitamin A (Retinol Palmitate).

Go with cheese.  The chicken is a pre-cooked breaded Tyson chicken product. The ingredients are: Boneless, skinless chicken breast filets with rib meat, water, modified food starch, sodium phosphates, salt. PREDUSTED WITH: Enriched wheat flour (enriched with niacin, reduced iron, thiamine mononitrate, riboflavin, folic acid), wheat gluten, salt. BATTERED WITH: Water, enriched bleached wheat flour (enriched with niacin, reduced iron, thiamine mononitrate, riboflavin, folic acid), modified corn starch, salt, dextrose, spices, garlic powder, xanthan gum, oleoresin paprika and annatto. BREADED WITH: Enriched wheat flour (enriched with niacin, reduced iron, thiamine mononitrate, riboflavin, folic acid), salt, spices, garlic powder, extractives of paprika, natural flavors (spice extractives). Breading set in vegetable oil.  Their serving size has 10g of fat (2 of which are saturated) and 620 mg of sodium.

Wednesday, November 20, 2013

What's for Lunch, Thursday 11/21/201

French Bread Pizza Plain OR with Meatballs

Caesar Salad with Chickpeas & Tomatoes
 
Fresh Melon
 
We make these ourselves - we do not serve highly processed frozen pizzas. For our various pizzas, we use  the Red Pack vitamin enhanced tomato sauce. The sodium at 140mg is much lower than we previously used.  Here are the ingredients: Tomato Concentrate (Water, Tomato Paste), Sugar, Soybean Oil, Potassium Chloride, Onion Powder, Salt, Citric Acid, Spice, Garlic Powder, Vitamin C (Ascorbic Acid), Black Pepper, Vitamin E (DL-Alpha Tocopheryl Acetate), Natural Flavor, Vitamin A (Retinol Palmitate).  The cheese is a USDA commodity part skim mozzarella.  Ingredients are cultured pasteurized milk, salt, enzymes. The sodium is 240mg/oz -  we use 2 ounces. 
The meatballs we've used previously are processed, cooked and frozen by Tyson from commodity beef and although we've improved the beef in our hamburgers, the same is true for the meatballs. Ingredients are: Ground beef (not more than 20% fat), water, bread crumbs (bleached wheat flour, salt, yeast, dextrose, and soybean oil), seasoning (salt, dehydrated onion, dehydrated celery, garlic powder, spices, soybean oil), tomato puree (tomatoes and citric acid), grated parmesan cheese [(cultured part-skim milk, salt and enzymes), cellulose powder, potassium sorbate], grated romano cheese made from cow's milk [(cultured pasteurized part-skim milk, salt and enzymes), cellulose powder, potassium sorbate].   They have 9g of fat (3 are saturated) and 450 mg of sodium. 
 
The Caesar salad is pretty clear - romaine is a traditional choice for caesar but also more nutritious than iceberg. The Caesar salad dressing is organic by Chelten. Here are the ingredients: filtered water, organic soybean oil, organic white vinegar, organic Parmesan cheese (pasteurized organic cow's milk, salt, cheese cultures, microbial enzymes, organic potato starch), pasteurized organic frozen whole egg yolks, salt, organic sugar, organic ground mustard seed, organic garlic powder organic onion powder, organic black pepper, xanthan gum.  (in 2 tbsp - 8 g fat, 160 mg sodium). 

Monday, November 18, 2013

What's for Lunch, Tuesday 11/19/2013

Homemade Baked Ziti

From the Farm...
Sautéed Broccoli with Garlic & Oil
Fresh Fruit Salad

 The ziti is a white flour pasta with some protein by Barilla Plus. The ingredients are:  Semolina, Grain and Legume Flour, Blend (Lentils, Chickpeas, Egg Whites, Spelt, Barley, Flaxseed, Oat Fiber, Oats), Durum Flour, Niacin, Iron (Ferrous Sulfate), Thiamine Mononitrate, Riboflavin, Folic Acid.

The sauce is a Red Pack vitamin enhanced tomato sauce. The sodium at 140mg is much lower than we previously used.  Here are the ingredients: Tomato Concentrate (Water, Tomato Paste), Sugar, Soybean Oil, Potassium Chloride, Onion Powder, Salt, Citric Acid, Spice, Garlic Powder, Vitamin C (Ascorbic Acid), Black Pepper, Vitamin E (DL-Alpha Tocopheryl Acetate), Natural Flavor, Vitamin A (Retinol Palmitate)

Food allergy epinephrine bill reaches Obama's desk

Updated 4:25 p.m. E.T.
WASHINGTONPresident Barack Obama on Wednesday signed a bill that gives a financial incentive to states to stockpile emergency medications in schools that could save lives in the cases of allergic reactions.

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-204_162-57612201/food-allergy-epinephrine-bill-reaches-obamas-desk/

Sunday, November 17, 2013

What's for Lunch, Monday 11/18/2013 

BRUNCH FOR LUNCH

Homemade Challah French Toast
w/Orange Rounds
Applegate Farms® Turkey Bacon

OR 
Scrambled Egg & Cheese Wrap
Sweet Potato "Puffs"
Orange Slices
Salad Bar Veggie Sides


This is a very popular meal. That's why we serve it. But it's not good for you.

Join me in saying "No" to meal declared to be "cake" for lunch by our committee's nutritionist.  Plus, the liberal allocation of syrup is basically HFCS.  (News Flash! Next year we will replace the high fructose corn syrup with actual maple syrup! But it won't make up for the lack of any whole grains in this meal.)

Nonetheless, here are the details: You do get fresh orange slices.

The turkey bacon is by Applegate. It is nitrate-free. Here are the ingredients: Turkey (Turkey Used Never Administered Antibiotics, Growth Promotants or Animal By-products), Water, Sea Salt, Maple Sugar, Celery Juice, Onion Powder, Spices, Lactic Acid Starter Culture (not From Milk.)


Then there are the commodity potatoes processed by McCain's into tater tots -- although they are labeled "frozen pre-formed potato rounds."  They have 7g of fat (one of which is saturated) and 190mg of sodium. Ingredients are: potatoes, vegetable oil (contains one or more of the following oils: canola, soybean, cottonseed, sunflower, corn). Contains 2% or less of dextrose, salt, sodium acid pyrophosphate added to maintain natural color.

Raisins are domestic.

Sides from the salad bar - or better yet, have a salad as your meal today.

People do eat sandwiches and salads for lunch. French toast, not so much.

Thursday, November 14, 2013

What's for Lunch, Friday 11/15/13

Pita Pizza

Whole Wheat Pita, Pizza Sauce, Mozzarella & Basil
Add Meatballs on Request

Veggie Sticks with Dip

Raisins

We make these ourselves - we do not serve highly processed frozen pizzas. For our various pizzas, we use  the Red Pack vitamin enhanced tomato sauce. The sodium at 140mg is much lower than we previously used.  Here are the ingredients: Tomato Concentrate (Water, Tomato Paste), Sugar, Soybean Oil, Potassium Chloride, Onion Powder, Salt, Citric Acid, Spice, Garlic Powder, Vitamin C (Ascorbic Acid), Black Pepper, Vitamin E (DL-Alpha Tocopheryl Acetate), Natural Flavor, Vitamin A (Retinol Palmitate).  The cheese is a USDA commodity part skim mozzarella.  Ingredients are cultured pasteurized milk, salt, enzymes. The sodium is 240mg/oz -  we use 2 ounces. 

The meatballs we've used previously are processed, cooked and frozen by Tyson from commodity beef and although we've improved the beef in our hamburgers, the same is true for the meatballs. Ingredients are: Ground beef (not more than 20% fat), water, bread crumbs (bleached wheat flour, salt, yeast, dextrose, and soybean oil), seasoning (salt, dehydrated onion, dehydrated celery, garlic powder, spices, soybean oil), tomato puree (tomatoes and citric acid), grated parmesan cheese [(cultured part-skim milk, salt and enzymes), cellulose powder, potassium sorbate], grated romano cheese made from cow's milk [(cultured pasteurized part-skim milk, salt and enzymes), cellulose powder, potassium sorbate].   They have 9g of fat (3 are saturated) and 450 mg of sodium.
 

Wednesday, November 13, 2013

What's for Lunch, Thursday 11/14/13 

From the Ranch to you...

Taco Thursday!
Beef Taco Corn Tortilla Shell
OR
Corn Tortilla Chips
Romaine Lettuce
Zesty Black Beans, Salsa & Cheese
  
Orange Slices

GF

Our district has contracted with a New York State farm to provide beef raised without antibiotics and hormones. It is more expensive and there is less beef on the menu as a result but it is a huge improvement in the quality of our lunches. We season and prepare this dish. 
The hard taco shells from Mission foodservice contain: whole grain corn, water, vegetable oil (one or more of the following: cottonseed oil, corn oil or palm oil), contains 2% or less of niacin, reduced iron, thiamine, mononitrate, riboflavin lime. No sodium - 6g of fat (2 of which are saturated)

The salsa is actually organic by Green Mountain and the ingredients are: tomatoes, fire-roasted chiles, onions, tomatillos, jalapeno peppers, pasilla peppers, apple cider vinegar, cilantro, parsley, garlic, sea salt, spices. 

The tortilla chips are a gluten free option 

The Orange Slices are Fresh

 

Tuesday, November 12, 2013

Drink Ingredient Gets a Look

Drink Ingredient Gets a Look


James Edward Bates for The New York Times
Sarah Kavanagh, 15, of Hattiesburg, Miss., started an online petition asking PepsiCo to change Gatorade’s formula.

  • FACEBOOK
  • TWITTER
  • GOOGLE+
  • SAVE
  • E-MAIL
  • SHARE
  • PRINT
  • REPRINTS

Sarah Kavanagh and her little brother were looking forward to the bottles of Gatorade they had put in the refrigerator after playing outdoors one hot, humid afternoon last month in Hattiesburg, Miss.
James Edward Bates for The New York Times
A petition on Change.org asks for the removal of brominated vegetable oil from Gatorade.
But before she took a sip, Sarah, a dedicated vegetarian, did what she often does and checked the label to make sure no animal products were in the drink. One ingredient, brominated vegetable oil, caught her eye.
“I knew it probably wasn’t from an animal because it had vegetable in the name, but I still wanted to know what it was, so I Googled it,” Ms. Kavanagh said. “A page popped up with a long list of possible side effects, including neurological disorders and altered thyroid hormones. I didn’t expect that.”
She threw the product away and started a petition on Change.org, a nonprofit Web site, that has almost 200,000 signatures. Ms. Kavanagh, 15, hopes her campaign will persuadePepsiCo, Gatorade’s maker, to consider changing the drink’s formulation.
Jeff Dahncke, a spokesman for PepsiCo, noted that brominated vegetable oil had been deemed safe for consumption by federal regulators. “As standard practice, we constantly evaluate our formulas and ingredients to ensure they comply with federal regulations and meet the high quality standards our consumers and athletes expect — from functionality to great taste,” he said in an e-mail.
In fact, about 10 percent of drinks sold in the United States contain brominated vegetable oil, including Mountain Dew, also made by PepsiCo; Powerade, Fanta Orange and Fresca from Coca-Cola; and Squirt and Sunkist Peach Soda, made by the Dr Pepper Snapple Group.
The ingredient is added often to citrus drinks to help keep the fruit flavoring evenly distributed; without it, the flavoring would separate.
Use of the substance in the United States has been debated for more than three decades, so Ms. Kavanagh’s campaign most likely is quixotic. But the European Union has long banned the substance from foods, requiring use of other ingredients. Japan recently moved to do the same.
“B.V.O. is banned other places in the world, so these companies already have a replacement for it,” Ms. Kavanagh said. “I don’t see why they don’t just make the switch.” To that, companies say the switch would be too costly.
The renewed debate, which has brought attention to the arcane world of additive regulation, comes as consumers show increasing interest in food ingredients and have new tools to learn about them. Walmart’s app, for instance, allows access to lists of ingredients in foods in its stores.
Brominated vegetable oil contains bromine, the element found in brominated flame retardants, used in things like upholstered furniture and children’s products. Research has found brominate flame retardants building up in the body and breast milk, and animal and some human studies have linked them to neurological impairment, reduced fertility, changes in thyroid hormones and puberty at an earlier age.
Limited studies of the effects of brominated vegetable oil in animals and in humans found buildups of bromine in fatty tissues. Rats that ingested large quantities of the substance in their diets developed heart lesions.
Its use in foods dates to the 1930s, well before Congress amended the Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act to add regulation of new food additives to the responsibilities of the Food and Drug Administration. But Congress exempted two groups of additives, those already sanctioned by the F.D.A. or the Department of Agriculture, or those experts deemed “generally recognized as safe.”
The second exemption created what Tom Neltner, director of the Pew Charitable Trusts’ food additives project, a three-year investigation into how food additives are regulated, calls “the loophole that swallowed the law.” A company can create a new additive, publish safety data about it on its Web site and pay a law firm or consulting firm to vet it to establish it as “generally recognized as safe” — without ever notifying the F.D.A., Mr. Neltner said.
About 10,000 chemicals are allowed to be added to foods, about 3,000 of which have never been reviewed for safety by the F.D.A., according to Pew’s research. Of those, about 1,000 never come before the F.D.A. unless someone has a problem with them; they are declared safe by a company and its handpicked advisers.
“I worked on the industrial and consumer products side of things in the past, and if you take a new chemical and put it into, say, a tennis racket, you have to notify the E.P.A. before you put it in,” Mr. Neltner said, referring to the Environmental Protection Agency. “But if you put it into food and can document it as recognized as safe by someone expert, you don’t have to tell the F.D.A.”
Michael R. Taylor, deputy commissioner for food and veterinary medicine at the agency, said: “From our standpoint, we do need to look at whether this regime established by Congress almost 60 years ago gives us the information we need. It would be desirable for F.D.A. to have more information on products being added to food.”
The F.D.A. is aware of the controversy surrounding brominated vegetable oil. It took the ingredient off its list of substances “generally recognized as safe” in 1970, after the Flavor and Extract Manufacturers Association revoked its approval of it. The group’s expert panel is the primary body for evaluating the safety of flavoring substances added to food; if it rules something is “generally recognized as safe,” the F.D.A. goes along.
John Halligan, senior adviser and general counsel to the organization, said that during the late 1960s and early 1970s, the expert panel was reviewing many older additives that had been grandfathered into “generally recognized as safe” status when the federal law was changed.
“They came to B.V.O. and there had been some new studies done which weren’t definitive,” he said. “The panel looked at data and said it doesn’t look like we have an adequate database here to conclude this substance is generally recognized as safe, so they revoked its status.”
Subsequently, Patricia El-Hinnawy, a spokeswoman for the F.D.A, wrote in an e-mail, the agency asked the association to do studies on brominated vegetable oil in mice, rats, dogs and pigs. She said that the organization made “several submissions of safety data” to the F.D.A. while those studies were going on, roughly from 1971 to 1974.
“F.D.A. determined that the totality of evidence supported the safe use of B.V.O. in fruit-flavored beverages up to 15 parts per million,” Ms. El-Hinnawy wrote.
That ruling, made in 1977, was supposed to be interim, pending more studies, but 35 years later it is unchanged. “Any change in the interim status of B.V.O. would require an expenditure of F.D.A.’s limited resources, which is not a public health protection priority for the agency at this time,” Ms. El-Hinnawy wrote.
Meanwhile, no further testing has been done. While most people have limited exposure to brominated vegetable oil, an extensive article about it by Environmental Health News that ran in Scientific American last year found that video gamers and others who binge on sodas and other drinks containing the ingredient experience skin lesions, nerve disorders and memory loss.
Michael F. Jacobson, co-founder and executive director of the Center for Science in the Public Interest, said some studies show that B.V.O. collects in fatty tissues, raising questions about what its effect might be during weight loss. Dr. Jacobson, who looked into the research on brominated vegetable oil after being asked about it by The New York Times, concluded, “The testing of B.V.O. is abysmal.”
He said the longest studies of the ingredient he could find covered only four months, while most food additives are usually tested for two years, making it impossible to establish a safe level of consumption.
Thank you

What's for Lunch, Wednesday 11/13/13

Homemade Mac N’ Cheese

Barilla® Whole Grain Pasta & Wisconsin Cheddar From the Farm...
Sautéed Broccoli From the Farm...
NYS Apples

The noodles we're using for the Mac n cheese are Barilla Plus. The ingredients are: Semolina, Grain and Legume Flour, Blend (Lentils, Chickpeas, Egg Whites, Spelt, Barley, Flaxseed, Oat Fiber, Oats), Durum Flour, Niacin, Iron (Ferrous Sulfate), Thiamine Mononitrate, Riboflavin, Folic Acid. The sauce is made from Wisconsin Cheddar.  

The Broccoli is Fresh.

Monday, November 11, 2013

HFCS In our Children's Catchup

This is the Catchup used in our cafeteria.  



What about an organic alternative? A Catchup without High Fructose Corn Syrup as an ingredient.

I know it might be more expensive - but wouldn't it be worth it!

Interesting Read!

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/10/magazine/doug-rauch-wants-to-sell-outdated-food-at-junk-food-prices.html?smid=fb-share


What's for Lunch, Tuesday 11/12/13

Chicken “Bites”

Oven Baked, All White Meat
Sweet Potato Crinkles
Cucumber Sticks with Dip
Strawberry Smoothie
We have a lot of good lunches in our school but this is not one of them.

The chicken is a Tyson "fully cooked chicken breast nugget fritter with rib meat" with 10g of fat and 420mg of sodium.  The ingredients are: Boneless, skinless chicken breast nuggets with rib meat, water, modified food starch, sodium phosphates, salt. PREDUSTED WITH: Enriched wheat flour (enriched with niacin, reduced iron, thiamine mononitrate, riboflavin, folic acid), wheat gluten, salt. BATTERED WITH: Water, enriched bleached wheat flour (enriched with niacin, reduced iron, thiamine mononitrate, riboflavin, folic acid), modified corn starch, salt, dextrose, spices, garlic powder, xanthan gum, oleoresin paprika and annatto. BREADED WITH: Enriched wheat flour (enriched with niacin, reduced iron, thiamine mononitrate, riboflavin, folic acid), salt, spices, garlic powder, extractives of paprika, natural flavors (spice extractives). Breading set in vegetable oil.

The Crinkles are sweet potato fries that are flash or par-fried,then baked and frozen before shipping to us. They have 190mg of sodium and 7g of fat (one is saturated). The ingredients are: Sweet Potatoes, Vegetable Oil (Contains One Or More Of The Following Oils: Canola, Soybean, Cottonseed, Sunflower, Corn), Corn Starch - Modified. Contains 2% or less of Annatto (color), Beta Carotene (color), Caramel Color, Corn Starch, Dehydrated Sweet Potatoes, Leavening (Sodium Acid Pyrophosphate, Sodium Bicarbonate), Natural Flavor (Contains Wheat), Rice Flour, Salt, Sodium Acid Pyrophosphate Added To Maintain Natural Color, Sugar, Tapioca Dextrin, Xanthan Gum.

Please take advantage of the fresh fruits and vegetables. 
 

Wednesday, November 6, 2013

What's for Lunch, Thursday 11/7/13



GRILLED CHEESE TWO WAYS
Plain Cheese
OR
Cheese & Boar’s Head® Ham
Romaine Salad with Chickpeas
Strawberry Smoothie

The grilled cheese sandwich is made with Cabot cheddar on whole wheat bread.  We use Nature's Own Whole Wheat Bread for these. The ingredients are: STONE GROUND WHOLE WHEAT FLOUR, WATER, BROWN SUGAR, YEAST, WHEAT GLUTEN, CONTAINS 2% OR LESS OF EACH OF THE FOLLOWING: SALT, VEGETABLE OIL (SOYBEAN OIL OR CANOLA OIL), DOUGH, CONDITIONERS (SODIUM STEAROYL LACTYLATE, CALCIUM, STEAROYL-2-LACTYLATE, MONOGLYCERIDES, CALCIUM IODATE, ETHOXYLATED MONO AND DIGLYCERIDES, CALCIUM PEROXIDE, DATEM), CULTURED WHEAT FLOUR, VINEGAR, CALCIUM SULFATE, MONOCALCIUM, PHOSPHATE, YEAST FOOD (AMMONIUM SULFATE), SOY LECITHIN.
  
Boar’s Head® Ham Nutrition Facts

Serv Size 2 oz (56g)
Serving Per Container Varied

Amount Per Serving



Calories 60

Monday, November 4, 2013

Sunday, November 3, 2013

What's for Lunch, Monday, November 4/2013

Quesadilla
Chicken & Cheese
OR
Plain Cheese
Corn,Tomato & Black Bean Salsa
Cinnamon Applesauce
Monthly Special
Cup of Soup of the Week
Whole Wheat Pita Pizza
Veggie of the Day
(Includes Salad Bar and Veggies)
Raisin Box

Cheese and chicken quesadilla w/ a flour tortilla - no whole grains. The tortillas are from Tyson and contain:  Bleached Enriched Wheat Flour (Flour, Malted Barley Flour, Niacin, Reduced Iron, Thiamine Mononitrate, Riboflavin, Folic Acid), Water, Soybean Oil, Hydrogenated Vegetable Oil (Contains one or more of the following: Cottonseed Oil, Soybean Oil), Mono- and Diglycerides, Contains 2% or less of the following: Salt, Baking Powder (Sodium Acid Pyrophosphate, Sodium Bicarbonate, Corn Starch, Monocalcium Phosphate), Fumaric Acid, Sodium Bicarbonate, Dough Conditioner (Wheat Flour, Calcium Sulfate, Sorbic Acid), Preservative (Sodium Propionate and Potassium Sorbate).  Sodium is 380mg. 5g of fat (1 of which is saturated).

The chicken is from Tyson and described as diced, cooked "chicken meat."