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Houston-area students taste-test future school lunch menus
Join us as over 240 students taste test new school lunch options, sharing their opinions and experiences! This exciting event showcases community involvement and the evolution of school meals, ensuring kids have a say in their lunch choices.
HUMBLE, Texas - Over 200 students in the Greater Houston area are getting a direct say in what could soon end up on their cafeteria lunch trays.
Choice Partners, a national purchasing cooperative under the Harris County Department of Education (HCDE), hosted its 21st annual Child Nutrition and Product Expo on Thursday, Oct. 22, at the Humble Civic Center.
The annual four-hour event connects child nutrition directors with vendors while showcasing emerging trends in school nutrition. This year, over 240 students and school nutrition leaders from nearly 70 school districts, private and charter schools, and public agencies attended to evaluate potential cafeteria items.
Rating booklets and vendor scoring
How It Worked:
Students representing local school districts—including Conroe, Galena Park, and Humble ISDs—tasted sample items across more than 140 food and cafeteria equipment vendors, including major suppliers such as Tyson Foods, General Mills, PepsiCo Foodservice, Schwan’s Co., Hiland Dairy, and Labatt Food Service.
Student taste-testers scored each vendor's offerings to provide direct feedback to their district's nutrition directors back at their home campuses.
"So basically, we have these booklets, this catalog we put together, of what is gonna be going on their menu," said Trisha Prestigiacomo, Assistant Director at Choice Partners. "The kids can go around, and they score, then they get to put in some feedback to their directors back at their home campus and tell them what they like, what they didn’t like. So it kind of makes them feel like they're involved in the menu-planning process."
Why is this important?
Why you should care:
For school nutrition teams, the co-op serves as a bridge between meeting guidelines and realistic cafeteria operations.
"Cooking and things like that are the easy part," said Senior Director at Choice Partners. "It’s all the compliance—doing their own RFPs and making sure that the newest and latest TDA regulations are met."
Big picture view:
Through Choice Partners cooperative contracts, food purchased annually by Harris and Montgomery County area school districts supplies millions of school lunches every year.
The Source: Choice Partners, Harris County Department of Education and other organizers.