The face of school nutrition across the country is changing, and on Tuesday, parents, students and community members are invited to see -- and taste -- what that means for the Thompson School District.

The district's first Student Nutrition Expo will be held at Mountain View High School and features more than two dozen booths as well as educational presentations and lunchroom samples.

"It's just a perfect time for our district to really embrace the changes that are being made in school nutritional standards," Allie Clarke, district nutrition services clerk, said.

The USDA has continued to roll out new national standards for school meals, starting last fall when calorie limits and weekly minimums of grains and meat were put in place. The new guidelines have also increased daily servings of fruits and vegetables and increased the variety of vegetables served in school lunchrooms each week.

But district officials like to think they've always been ahead of the curve when it comes to encouraging healthy eating habits. In the past decade or so, the district has eliminated fried foods such as french fries from its menus and has made a concerted effort to move away from processed foods.

Thompson School District Student Nutrition Expo

When: 1 to 5 p.m. Tuesday.

Where: Mountain View High School, 3500 Mountain Lion Drive.

"Nutrition services has been ahead of the game as far as implementing the standards," Kathy Schlepp, wellness coordinator, said. "They've done taste tastes and worked on getting students to give input."

The new grain standard is one that Clarke said has been in place in the district for years, and this school year cafeterias started using a new pasta that's more than half whole grains. Locally processed in Aurora, the new pasta is also part of nutritional services's initiative to bring in local partners.

Excerpt from:
Student Nutrition Expo set to showcase food services at Loveland schools