Washington DC Public Schools has engaged two vendors to provide healthful meals to two pilot programs scheduled to begin this fall in 14 school sites, reports the Washington Post. The vendors are Revolution Foods, an Alameda, CA, based provider that specializes in pre-prepared school meals, and DC Central Kitchen, a local firm that has specialized in providing meals to social service agencies, primarily by using surplus food from area businesses.
Each will provide meals to seven sites and will be required to provide meals that meet the school nutrition standards outlined by the Institute of Medicine. The meals must have fruit, vegetables and hormone-free milk, be primarily whole grain and use grass-fed, local, antibiotic-free meats as much as possible.
The pilot programs will be evaluated on cost, participation and adherence to nutrition standards throughout the coming school year, and may be expanded to more sites if they are seen as performing successfully.