Texas Border Business
McALLEN, Texas – A national health official, who oversees Texas, paid a visit to McAllen ISD’s Child Nutrition Department to see what was cooking.
Turns out that a lot of good things are on the menu at McAllen ISD.
Erin Tawney, the Dallas Region’s Regional Director for the US Department of Health and Human Services, was impressed with McAllen ISD’s new meal plan which is all set to roll out this school year.
During Tawney’s visit on the morning of August 14, she visited with McAllen ISD officials on upcoming legislation for children’s nutrition and toured the district’s massive state-of-the-art Central Kitchen.
“It was informative to be able to sit and talk with her about the changes that will be coming through,” Sonia Esquivel, McAllen ISD’s Child Nutrition Director, said. “It is exciting to know there are regulatory changes coming down that are lining up with the menu improvements we are already planning.”
The district’s goal this school year is to improve meal freshness and nutritional quality by increasing scratch cooking.
In October, January and March of this school year, the district will roll out a new menu with a focus on introducing new scratch-cooked recipes using fresh ingredients or minimally processed items. Each rollout will include one to two updated items designed to promote balanced meals and reduce sugars to less than 10 percent of total calories.
This initiative will include improving cafeteria equipment and operational efficiency to support scratch cooking. Child Nutrition staff has been undergoing additional culinary training. New standard operating procedures will ensure consistent, efficient and safe scratch cooking and equipment use.
All school meals are designed to meet federal nutrition standards while remaining familiar and accessible to the community.
Since 1998, McAllen ISD has provided free meals for all students. Children in McAllen ISD enjoy a healthy breakfast and lunch each day. In some circumstances, students even receive dinner. On a typical school day, it comes to about 30,000 meals per day, or 5.5 million meals served across the school year.
Tawney is a dedicated healthcare management and government relations leader with more than 30 years of experience driving market development, strategic partnerships, and innovation within healthcare systems. She leads federal engagement across Arkansas, Arizona, Louisiana, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas, and 90 federally-recognized tribes.
She champions initiatives to enhance health care delivery, human services programs and public health.
