Not everyone eats their broccoli at the dinner table, but local schools are making sure students are eating fruits and veggies while at lunch.
"Some big changes for menus. The biggest change we've seen in a generation," says Director of Food Services for Wood County Schools, Beverly Blough.
This fall, students in Wood County will be walking into an entirely different lunchroom.
"When the students come back to school, they're going to be seeing a lot of the same foods but they might be prepared differently or they might not see some of their favorite foods as often."
That's because the district is following new guidelines. Guidelines that will bring more fruits and veggies to lunch trays.
"We know for a fact that students do not eat fruits and vegetables to the point that they need to for healthy growth, so we will be requiring fruit to be served at every meal and vegetables to be served at every lunch meal," Blough says. She adds that foods will also be grouped by color. "Dark green leafy vegetables are much healthier for us, red orange vegetables, we'll be introducing more beans."
They'll also be introducing some new ingredients into some old cafeteria favorites.
"Some of the products that they're using to having, like pizza, won't have that white flour crust. Our wonderful home made rolls are going to be re-engineered to have more wheat and grain in them."
While some students may not enjoy all the healthy stuff at lunch, parents agree it's a good thing for the schools.
"She'd rather eat fruits and vegetables than candy," says parent Iva McAtee.
Signs will be posted throughout the cafeteria, reminding students to get all food groups on their trays. If students try to check out without having a fruit, vegetable, or whole grain, they will be instructed to get back into the line to get some.
The new menu requirements also manadte that by 2015, all grain foods much be at least 51 percent whole grain.
