VINTON (KCRG-TV9) — A number of schools across the nation are making the leap to have more green options available for students at school.
They say this will make meals healthier.
Now the trend is taking over in four eastern Iowa school districts.
Those districts are the Benton Community School District, Center Point-Urbana, Union, and Vinton-Shellsburg Schools.
Each school district will implement the meals into its current rotation of foods in a different way.
“We are trying out some new recipes, tasting them and then we will make them for the kids to try,” said, Catherine Stuelke, a representative for the Vinton-Shellsburg Community School District.
Funding for the new options will be up to the individual districts. Stuelke said they will use grant money to continue paying for green efforts.
Some of the tested options include Sloppy Joes, lentils, chocolate chip hummus, and breakfast sushi.
“I don’t think we’ll have to find additional funding,” Svestka, the Cafeteria Director for the Benton Community School District, said. “Plant-based products tend to cost less.”
According to data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor, meat prices over the last year have mostly gone up while some protein substitutes and plant products have gone down, but both schools said the need for these foods is an important one.