During the 2007-2008 school year, with a
$500,000 grant from the Mayor’s
Office and the Department of Children, Youth and their Families (DCYF),
San Francisco Unified School District (SFUSD) Student Nutrition Services
(SNS) added daily salad bars to 25 schools. The salad bars addressed
several high priority needs for school meals identified by SFUSD,
students, parents, and advocates including increasing the amount of
fresh,
seasonal produce, increasing the amount of food especially to older
students, and increasing the amount of local and sustainable food.
Each salad bar features organic romaine and a choice of several
mostly
California grown raw vegetables, in addition to a variety of fresh fruit
and whole-grain breads and muffins, all offered in addition to the
regular
hot lunch at no additional charge to students.
Low-income students who qualify for subsidized meals get both the hot
entrée and the salad bar for free, while others may purchase the
complete
meal including salad bar for $2 (adults pay $3). Nineteen of the
twenty-five schools represent sites where over 50% of the students
qualify
for free or reduced-price lunches.
Since the salad bars began opening in the fall of 2007, about 16%
more
students on average are eating the cafeteria lunch at participating
schools, with some schools showing increases of nearly 60%.
