Schools Serving Up Deceptively Healthy Meals DALLAS, TX (KERA) - How do you get students to eat their veggies and trade salty junk foods for healthy meals? School nutritionists may have found some answers at this week's national convention in Dallas. KERA's Shelley Kofler reports that a little culinary camouflage goes a long way.



School nutritionists have a lot on their plates. The National School Lunch Program requires them to serve a week's worth of meals with no more than 30 percent of calories coming from fat. That alone could eliminate good old greasy fries, a kids' favorite. And what about deep fried chicken? Or bacon and cheese burgers?

School menus must also include one third of the federally Recommended Dietary Allowances for protein, iron, calcium and a whole slough of vitamins.

And - maybe most importantly - this food is supposed to taste so good, finicky students won't realize it's healthy.

This week at their annual convention school nutritionists wandered among 760 booths, sampling foods that might fit that tall order.

On the menu at the Hidden Healthies booth they found Lori Asbury serving a tasty queso dip that included no cheese whatsoever.

Asbury: That's sweet potato, butternut squash and white bean puree. They all count toward a veggie requirement.

Reporter: The name Hidden Healthies implies you have to trick the kids.

Asbury: Yeah, stealth vegetable consumption, that's what we call it.

The gastronomic deception continued at another booth serving French Fries which weren't fried at all. They were baked and 99-percent fat free. The manufacturer sprays a little oil on them to make them look like they're fried.

And can you believe they've sneaked spinach and yams into muffins? Retired school nutritionist Josephine Martin really liked them though she noticed they were an unusual shade of pale green.

Martin: It is different but it has a nice flavor.

Reporter: Do you think kids will eat them if they know there's spinach in their muffins?

Martin: I think they will eat it because of the mouth feel and taste. I don't see any green that would be objectionable there.

School nutritionists say one of their biggest coming challenges will be a requirement to reduce salt in school meals. The National Institute of Medicine says a typical high school lunch contains around 1,600 milligrams of sodium. The Institute is recommending less than half that amount, 740 milligrams.

Domino's is marketing school lunch pizzas with a third less sodium than their traditional pizza. These more nutritious pies also have whole grain crusts and reduced fat cheese.

But will they meet the critics' test in the lunch line? At first Oregon Nutritionist Janet Beer wasn't sure.

Beer: Pizza is their favorite food. Kids eat a lot of pizza and they know what it's supposed to taste like.

Domino's strategy is a little sneaky. It's gradually reducing the sodium in its pizza, instead of drastically cutting it all at once. So by the time kids catch on they won't miss the salt.

A slice of warm cheese bellroni convinced Beer. She says it still tastes enough like the pizza students expect, they may not even realize it's healthier.

Beer: If you tried it side by side with a normal product you might notice it. But when you try it in a mixed meal you're going to think it's the same pizza you had last year.
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