The Fresno Unified School District Nutrition Services Team welcomed the Center for Good Food Purchasing and local partners to celebrate their Good Food Leader: Silver status achievement on Feb. 13. The event featured a tour of Fresno’s nutrition center facility and an opportunity to try new school menu items served to Fresno USD students. In addition, the offices of State Senators Anna M. Caballero and Shannon Grove presented certificates of recognition to the Fresno USD Nutrition Services Team on behalf of the State of California Senate.

Fresno USD’s Good Food Leader: Silver status recognizes the district’s investment of $3.9 million in food sources within 50 miles of Fresno in support of local vendors and farmers providing high quality and nutritious food, as well as $1.7 million spent with suppliers or distributors with a union contract, representing a nearly 5% increase from the district’s previous program assessment. The district also continued to meet the program’s nutrition target, based on efforts including making fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and whole or minimally processed foods available; implementing community health and nutrition education programming for students and staff; and working with vendors to offer reduced sugar versions of products. The district’s purchasing efforts were supported by state funding from California Department of Education’s School Food Best Practice Fund and Kitchen Infrastructure and Training (KIT) Grant and California Department of Food & Agriculture’s CA Farm to School Incubator Grant Program, and federal funding from USDA’s Local Food for Schools.

Fresno USD Nutrition Services prepares and serves approximately 75,000 meals each school day. In addition, the department serves over 237,000 meals during the summer, contributing to a total of nearly 14 million meals served annually. These services are delivered across 108 school sites with the support of 464 dedicated full- and part-time employees.