State grants MP schools variance for family-style meals

By BRYCE KELLY

Mt. Pleasant News

Despite submitting a letter of disapproval to the Iowa Department of Inspections and Appeals (DIA) regarding a recent food variance application from the Mt. Pleasant Community School District, the Henry County Board of Health has recently received word from the DIA that the application has been approved.

During the most recent Henry County Board of Health meeting, Mt. Pleasant Community School District Superintendent, Dr. Mike Wells, addressed the board during the public forum portion of the meeting to explain the school district?s plans to implement the new food system and to ?hopefully work together with the board of health to promote a pilot food variance program in the district?.

?We have worked with Iowa Inspection and Appeals and they have approved us to begin family-style meals in March. It will start very slowly and we are looking forward to that process,? Wells said. ?The school district wants to reach out to the Henry County Health Board and work together to create a good program.

?If there are health concerns or other considerations that we (the school board and school district) are not looking at, we need to work together on these things...,? Wells continued. ?Mt. Pleasant is the first school in the State of Iowa and one of only a handful in the country that are doing this.?

The application, which requested a variance on an Iowa code dealing with regulations for food on display in school cafeterias, is an effort from Salem Elementary to implement a family-style serving system that will allow children to sit down at a table that already has the main entree dish pre-plated on an individual tray. Once seated, children would then have to scoop food from uncovered dishes of fruits and vegetables themselves at the table. This new system would give children the opportunity to serve themselves helpings of fruits and vegetables instead of a food service worker doing it for them.

Wells pointed out that the new food program is designed to promote nutritional socialization, eliminate food waste and promote proper table manners among the students. He also detailed the school?s plans to station at least one trained adult volunteer per seven or eight children at each table to assist students when needed.

Although Wells was excited to begin the process of implementing the new system, he did list some of the possible issues that could arise including how to properly keep food at a healthy temperature while it sits out on the tables; how to recycle food that isn?t used during a lunch day; how to usher students through a hand-washing schedule and still allot them enough time to serve themselves and eat their food; and how to make sure that children are getting the proper portions of food during lunch times. He also admitted that sneeze guards, which would normally be present in the traditional style of food service, would not exist with this new program. Wells said that while kids would not be handling the actual dishes that food is placed in, they would be handling the utensils that are being used to dish out the food.

While Wells did say some of these issues were relevant, he stated that he was still working hard with his nutrition staff to work out the kinks before March.

After hearing Wells? opening remarks, the board was voiced some of its main concerns regarding the new system. Despite the recent approval by the state to go ahead with the new food service system, the board was all in agreement that they were still very concerned about the overall issue of cleanliness.

Board member Rose Lauer started the discussion time by addressing the issue of cleanliness saying the board?s main concern is first and foremost keeping children safe and healthy.

?I think that table manners, food conservation and socialization are all good things this new program can help with,? said Lauer. ?But I think we as a board of health are really mainly concerned about disease transmission. We can serve great, nutritional meals in a line. I don?t think it has to be done using family-style service. The more opportunities that kids have to touch the utensils and things that are being used to dish out uncovered food, the more opportunities they have of contracting and spreading a variety of germs and illnesses.?

Travis Johnson, director of community health at Henry County Health Center, also added the issue of disease investigation was a concern.

?The disease investigation process is a very long, labor-intensive process. It takes a lot of state and HCHC staff time and resources to investigate a disease outbreak. This type of food service system really increases the chance of infectious disease transmission and outbreak, and that is surely a concern for us.?

In response to this particular issue, Wells remarked that he felt germ transmission will always be a concern in schools, and that this particular food service system is not much of a risk to students.

?Sickness is passed on in the classroom. There is no avoiding it. You can clean the school as much as you want and take all the precautions you want, but when you have 2,000 kids in one building, you are going to have the spreading of illness,? Wells said.

In regard to the public?s opinion of the issue, Jodi Sutter, food inspector for the county, said she has received various comments from concerned parents and community members about the issue.

Wells stated he was not aware of any concerns from parents, but also stated there may have been emails sent to the school from concerned individuals that he did not have with him at the time of the meeting that may have addressed concerns about the new system.

In closing, Wells offered to share parent and student satisfaction surveys with the board as the school rolls out the new food system. He also offered to share illness reports with the board to monitor if higher levels of student illness were being seen while the new system is in place.

The board, while still concerned about various health issues, was in agreement that these actions would be much appreciated so that they were kept in the loop about how the new food system was progressing.

Fore more information about the new food service system, visit the school district?s website at www.mt-pleasant.k12.ia.us.