We’re working to help get better snacks for sale at Long Beach school student stores.
At many high and middle school in Long Beach are “stores” or “cafes” which are outside the federal lunch program’s rigorous standards and complex inter-level bureaucracy. The student store is highly independent, typically selling small bags of nuts, chips, fruit smoothies and bottled drinks that the store manager buys at Costco or Smart N’ Final.
In July 2014, the Smart Snacks in Schools rule adjusted the sodium/fat/sugar allowances of “competitive foods” sold at schools, drastically reducing the portion sizes of the unhealthy snacks and removing some of the most popular items like instant ramen.
We think there is an opportunity to create healthier, locally produced snacks that fit the stores’ needs to become a viable additions or even replacements to the product mix at these school stores. Store managers are intrigued to know what snacks we can come up with that (A) low-cost wholesale per unit,(B) leave minimal waste (i.e. no peanut shells) and (C) have a long shelf life.
Goals:
- Understand and create a clear pipeline to distribute local, healthy snack foods to student stores
- Work with local food producers to develop healthy food products that fit the guidelines to be sold at the student store
- Connect the Student Store, School Administrators, School Business Academy, Parent Teacher Association and others with local food producers to launch local food products at the student stores
What We Need:
- Find local food producers who can produce snack foods for the student store
- Understand the barriers to producing local food
- Help local food producers overcome the barriers and test their products along with the help from on-campus support including student-designed advertising and tasting campaigns
- Investigate schools with already-established best food practices like Little Owl
- Tell our success stories
Latest Status:
- 1/30/15 Visited Cabrillo High School’s lunch room and student store and spoke with staff about barriers to better food. We also learned about what’s popular and how kids select items.
- 4/4/15 Met with local food producers at Made in Long Beach and introduced them to the competitive snack food rules
- 5/1/15 Created Snacktivism, a rough draft web portal to help local food producers create products for distribution to local schools
Resources:
Get Involved:
Read the latest status, think about how you want to get involved, and contact us.