eval report cover.indd - New Jersey Farm to School Network Wiki

Estimating Fruit & Vegetable Consumption by Students (Page 1 of 1)Farm to Conclusions School Sample and Tools Recommendationsand ResourcesMethodology:School cafeteria “Daily production records” or “daily menu production worksheets” arethe form on which food service kitchen staff record the amounts of specific foods servedat the beginning and end of the lunch meal everyday. The difference between these twofigures indicates the amount of food within each category that children took off the lunchline, in other words, how much was served to students that day. These records do notaccount for how much students actually ate off their plates, which will require furtherplate waste studies.The USDA School Meals Initiative for Healthy Children is based on Food Based Menus.With Food Based Menus, foods from specific food groups and in specific quantities mustbe offered. The minimum USDA requirement in the meal component ofVegetables/Fruits for grades K-6 is two or more servings of vegetables and/or fruits,which is equivalent to 3/4 cup per child per day plus 1/2 cup extra over a week.Calculate the fruit and vegetable amount taken by students by recording the beginningand end amounts on the production records. This figure is calculated on ¼ cup servings.Total the number of ¼ cup servings for each day, and divide by 3 to obtain the number of3/4 th cup servings. Sum the 3/4 th cup servings for the entire month, and divide by totalnumber of meals served for a percentage of the 3/4 th cup servings per meal. Divide thisby the number of students consuming meals to obtain the servings/meal or student /day(A).Assuming that students consume what they take on their lunch trays, (A) can be used as aproxy for consumption. It may also be necessary to calculate this data over selectedmonths during the year to account for seasonal differences.Adapted from “Estimation of Fruit and Vegetable Consumption by Students Based on Analysisof School Food Service Production Records” Final Evaluation Report, Compton Farm to SchoolDemonstration Project, Feenstra and Ohmart, UC SAREP, July 1, 2004 - June 30, 2005.156 Bearing Fruit: Farm to School Evaluation Resources and Recommendations