March 20, 2024 • 9 mins
Local food is fastest and freshest, but red tape in federal school lunch programs has sometimes forced schools to source out-of-state. After years of building relationships with Florida farmers and processors, the Hillsborough School District is serving its students an All-Florida lunch on Thursday, March 21st. We speak with Shani Hall, the district's Director of Nutrition Services.
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(00:00):
Gordon Bird here Beyond the News Thursday, March twenty first, Hillsboro County Schools
have planned a meal for all ofthe students in their district, which is
completely sourced in the state of Florida, and that's the first time they've done
that in that district. Today isFlorida, or rather, Thursday, March
twenty first, the day they're doingthis is Florida Food Day. Shaney Hall
(00:22):
is director of Nutrition Services for theHillsboro School District. Shaney Hall, thank
you and welcome to Beyond the News. Thank you so much for having me.
Now you're going to be serving mealsto all of the students across Hillsborough
County from all the cafeterias in theschool district that are entirely sourced in Florida.
(00:43):
How does that work? Well,this is something that we've been working
on for the past couple of years. We saw that and this is true
in all school districts that there isa challenge in getting local foods in to
our schools. And part of thatis just the way that the federal regulations
(01:04):
are written in terms of how wehave to procure our food. But also
because you know, farmers have theirdynamics have changed and how they grow food
in the state of Florida and inevery state, and there were some barriers
of farmers being able to get intothe market of school meals. So a
couple of years ago we were tryingto figure out how do we break down
(01:27):
these barriers, and we've slowly beenpartnering with different farmers in the state,
and then when we were starting toregularly get Florida foods on our menu,
we thought, oh, my gosh, do you think we could ever get
to the place where we could actuallyoffer the whole menu from Florida? And
(01:48):
that was our goal this year andwe made it happen, So we're very
excited about it now. It soundslike part of the goal here is to
get food that is as local andtherefore presumably as fresh and direct as you
possibly can, So it seems likethere's an advantage to that. So how
long did it take. How manyhurdles did you have to get through to
(02:08):
kind of work out the procedures withthe farmers and getting that accessed so that
you could access it on the scaleof a whole school district. Yeah,
that's really where the real work began. We actually developed a farm of School
coalition last school year when we werestarting to run into the barriers of reaching
(02:32):
out to farmers in the area.Some farmers they had you know, the
crops and were able to harvest enoughto get to all of our schools,
and some, you know, weremuch smaller, And that was a challenge
that we had going forward, waswe we wanted every student to get the
benefit of the locally grown options.We didn't want to just have you know,
(02:54):
one group of schools in one areaof the county get this benefit.
For us to really be successful,we felt like we had to do it
on the scale where everybody would bereceiving the same food. And so it
really was a lot of partnerships withlots of groups in the community to get
the right people at the table tosay, what are the challenges that you
(03:19):
have in being able to you know, provide for a district. For example,
like some farmers they have the abilityto process their produce in sizes that
a manager at a school could use, and some don't. They just don't
have that processing capability. So sometimesit was okay, can we can we
work together to try to find away where they could build up to that
(03:44):
or could they partner together with otherfarms And so we're still working through that
to try to get more variety,but we were able to, you know,
break down some of the barriers thatwas there in terms of just being
able to procure it. We areworking with larger farms in Florida because we
(04:05):
have over two hundred sites which areserving all the food and it terms like
we had. The struggles we hadwere number one, finding farmers who had
the harvest that could support us withthe number of students that we serve because
we serve, you know, almosttwo hundred thousand meals a day. And
(04:26):
number two, did they have away to get that produce to us.
So for so many sites, andluckily we do have a produce distributor who
was helpful and helping to gather allof that for us and deliver it to
the schools. But to your point, yes, we believe, and there's
science that backsit that local is better. It's you know, you don't lose
(04:48):
the nutritional value when you have ashorter time frame between harvest to plate and
when we are because of those rulesthat were in there about to be at
the lowest cost, for example,sometimes you have to get produced from way
far away, and when it getsto the school, it's been in transport
(05:12):
for so long in some cases thatyou just don't get the same nutrition from
that piece of fruit or vegetable.So that's really we were twofold trying to
get a healthier product and also tryingto put you know, the economy,
trying to help our local economy becausethese students in our schools, many of
them are in farming families, andwe were trying to get that money back
(05:34):
into our state rather than you know, it just go to whoever could handle
us. And you make a goodpoint there as far as the local produce
being getting to the school district andto the table and to the plate a
(05:55):
lot faster and with a much shorterjourney, and presumably not only more nutritious,
but presumably a lot tastier to thekids, and a lot less likely
to end up in the dumpster exactly. And also that is such a good
point about we don't want food waste, but we also want to introduce our
(06:15):
students to where food comes from,because that is something that I think just
as a society that generally goes tothe grocery store to get their food.
It's something that our children haven't beenexposed to. So we're trying to actually
add that educational component to say,you know, your strawberries that you're receiving
today, we're grown right here inPlant City, and you can visit the
(06:39):
farm. It's Wish Farms, andyou can go see it in action.
And these were just hated, harvested, you know, last week, and
you're getting them on the plate.It tells such a different story and one
that hopefully they remember and also canintroduce a career path to them of agriculture.
And you bring up a great pointabout food being educational. I went
(07:00):
to school in Hillsborough County, forexample, and the first time in my
life I ever had a Cuban sandwichwas in a school at lunchtime. And
it seems there's an educational value tohaving school students find out about lunches coming
from Florida and being grown in Florida, and not only that, but also
being introduced to some of the foodculture of Florida. I mean, I'm
(07:23):
looking, I'm looking at the itemsthat I have in the news release that
you're going to be serving. Oneof them is chicken and panadas that's coming
from a company in Hyalia, andpanadas are definitely a part of the food
culture in Florida. Strawberries of coursefrom Plant City, Mexican street corn which
was raised cultivated in Pahochy, andmilk from a dairy in Temple Terrace.
(07:46):
So not only are you introducing thekids to food that was grown and produced
in Florida, but also presumably alittle bit of food that's part of the
culture of Florida and part of thecolure of food in Florida that we've developed
over the years. Yes, andthat's something that we are really trying to
(08:07):
change the image of school lunch becauseeven though you remember having a Cuban sandwich
in Hillsborough County Schools lunch cafeteria,there are a lot of parents that don't
have, you know, positive memoriesof school lunch. And then when we
were in Covid and we were dealingwith food supply shortages, we were not
(08:28):
serving the menu we wanted to servebecause it was very difficult to get foods
in And we have a district chefwho now that we're we're kind of back
to normal, if you will,that we are adding more scratch cooking.
Back to the menu, We're gettingour kids involved in telling us what would
(08:48):
you like to see. We wantto have more menu items that are representative
of our students that live in HillsboroughCounty. We're trying to stay on trend.
They're so many things we're trying toaccomplish with our menu to do all
of those goals. Have the verynutritious meal that looks good, that tastes
good, that's as local as possible, that teaches kids about where their food
(09:13):
comes from, and that is foodthat they would recognize and want to eat.
So there's a lot we try todo with our menus every day.
Healthier, tastier, and local.You really can't beat that. Yeah,
that's how we feel. That's ourgoal and I know we've been able to
do it successfully for one day,So that just means we're going to raise
(09:35):
the bar next year and try toget it up more regularly. Shaney Hall,
director of Nutrition Services for the HillsboroSchool District. Shannie, thank you
very much for joining us on Beyondthe News. Thank you so much.
Gordon Bird here Beyond the News Thursday, March twenty first, Hillsboro County Schools
have planned a meal for all ofthe students in their district, which is
completely sourced in the state of Florida, and that's the first time they've done
that in that district. Today isFlorida, or rather, Thursday, March
twenty first, the day they're doingthis is Florida Food Day. Shaney Hall
(00:22):
is director of Nutrition Services for theHillsboro School District. Shaney Hall, thank
you and welcome to Beyond the News. Thank you so much for having me.
Now you're going to be serving mealsto all of the students across Hillsborough
County from all the cafeterias in theschool district that are entirely sourced in Florida.
(00:43):
How does that work? Well,this is something that we've been working
on for the past couple of years. We saw that and this is true
in all school districts that there isa challenge in getting local foods in to
our schools. And part of thatis just the way that the federal regulations
(01:04):
are written in terms of how wehave to procure our food. But also
because you know, farmers have theirdynamics have changed and how they grow food
in the state of Florida and inevery state, and there were some barriers
of farmers being able to get intothe market of school meals. So a
couple of years ago we were tryingto figure out how do we break down
(01:27):
these barriers, and we've slowly beenpartnering with different farmers in the state,
and then when we were starting toregularly get Florida foods on our menu,
we thought, oh, my gosh, do you think we could ever get
to the place where we could actuallyoffer the whole menu from Florida? And
(01:48):
that was our goal this year andwe made it happen, So we're very
excited about it now. It soundslike part of the goal here is to
get food that is as local andtherefore presumably as fresh and direct as you
possibly can, So it seems likethere's an advantage to that. So how
long did it take. How manyhurdles did you have to get through to
(02:08):
kind of work out the procedures withthe farmers and getting that accessed so that
you could access it on the scaleof a whole school district. Yeah,
that's really where the real work began. We actually developed a farm of School
coalition last school year when we werestarting to run into the barriers of reaching
(02:32):
out to farmers in the area.Some farmers they had you know, the
crops and were able to harvest enoughto get to all of our schools,
and some, you know, weremuch smaller, And that was a challenge
that we had going forward, waswe we wanted every student to get the
benefit of the locally grown options.We didn't want to just have you know,
(02:54):
one group of schools in one areaof the county get this benefit.
For us to really be successful,we felt like we had to do it
on the scale where everybody would bereceiving the same food. And so it
really was a lot of partnerships withlots of groups in the community to get
the right people at the table tosay, what are the challenges that you
(03:19):
have in being able to you know, provide for a district. For example,
like some farmers they have the abilityto process their produce in sizes that
a manager at a school could use, and some don't. They just don't
have that processing capability. So sometimesit was okay, can we can we
work together to try to find away where they could build up to that
(03:44):
or could they partner together with otherfarms And so we're still working through that
to try to get more variety,but we were able to, you know,
break down some of the barriers thatwas there in terms of just being
able to procure it. We areworking with larger farms in Florida because we
(04:05):
have over two hundred sites which areserving all the food and it terms like
we had. The struggles we hadwere number one, finding farmers who had
the harvest that could support us withthe number of students that we serve because
we serve, you know, almosttwo hundred thousand meals a day. And
(04:26):
number two, did they have away to get that produce to us.
So for so many sites, andluckily we do have a produce distributor who
was helpful and helping to gather allof that for us and deliver it to
the schools. But to your point, yes, we believe, and there's
science that backsit that local is better. It's you know, you don't lose
(04:48):
the nutritional value when you have ashorter time frame between harvest to plate and
when we are because of those rulesthat were in there about to be at
the lowest cost, for example,sometimes you have to get produced from way
far away, and when it getsto the school, it's been in transport
(05:12):
for so long in some cases thatyou just don't get the same nutrition from
that piece of fruit or vegetable.So that's really we were twofold trying to
get a healthier product and also tryingto put you know, the economy,
trying to help our local economy becausethese students in our schools, many of
them are in farming families, andwe were trying to get that money back
(05:34):
into our state rather than you know, it just go to whoever could handle
us. And you make a goodpoint there as far as the local produce
being getting to the school district andto the table and to the plate a
(05:55):
lot faster and with a much shorterjourney, and presumably not only more nutritious,
but presumably a lot tastier to thekids, and a lot less likely
to end up in the dumpster exactly. And also that is such a good
point about we don't want food waste, but we also want to introduce our
(06:15):
students to where food comes from,because that is something that I think just
as a society that generally goes tothe grocery store to get their food.
It's something that our children haven't beenexposed to. So we're trying to actually
add that educational component to say,you know, your strawberries that you're receiving
today, we're grown right here inPlant City, and you can visit the
(06:39):
farm. It's Wish Farms, andyou can go see it in action.
And these were just hated, harvested, you know, last week, and
you're getting them on the plate.It tells such a different story and one
that hopefully they remember and also canintroduce a career path to them of agriculture.
And you bring up a great pointabout food being educational. I went
(07:00):
to school in Hillsborough County, forexample, and the first time in my
life I ever had a Cuban sandwichwas in a school at lunchtime. And
it seems there's an educational value tohaving school students find out about lunches coming
from Florida and being grown in Florida, and not only that, but also
being introduced to some of the foodculture of Florida. I mean, I'm
(07:23):
looking, I'm looking at the itemsthat I have in the news release that
you're going to be serving. Oneof them is chicken and panadas that's coming
from a company in Hyalia, andpanadas are definitely a part of the food
culture in Florida. Strawberries of coursefrom Plant City, Mexican street corn which
was raised cultivated in Pahochy, andmilk from a dairy in Temple Terrace.
(07:46):
So not only are you introducing thekids to food that was grown and produced
in Florida, but also presumably alittle bit of food that's part of the
culture of Florida and part of thecolure of food in Florida that we've developed
over the years. Yes, andthat's something that we are really trying to
(08:07):
change the image of school lunch becauseeven though you remember having a Cuban sandwich
in Hillsborough County Schools lunch cafeteria,there are a lot of parents that don't
have, you know, positive memoriesof school lunch. And then when we
were in Covid and we were dealingwith food supply shortages, we were not
(08:28):
serving the menu we wanted to servebecause it was very difficult to get foods
in And we have a district chefwho now that we're we're kind of back
to normal, if you will,that we are adding more scratch cooking.
Back to the menu, We're gettingour kids involved in telling us what would
(08:48):
you like to see. We wantto have more menu items that are representative
of our students that live in HillsboroughCounty. We're trying to stay on trend.
They're so many things we're trying toaccomplish with our menu to do all
of those goals. Have the verynutritious meal that looks good, that tastes
good, that's as local as possible, that teaches kids about where their food
(09:13):
comes from, and that is foodthat they would recognize and want to eat.
So there's a lot we try todo with our menus every day.
Healthier, tastier, and local.You really can't beat that. Yeah,
that's how we feel. That's ourgoal and I know we've been able to
do it successfully for one day,So that just means we're going to raise
(09:35):
the bar next year and try toget it up more regularly. Shaney Hall,
director of Nutrition Services for the HillsboroSchool District. Shannie, thank you
very much for joining us on Beyondthe News. Thank you so much.
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