The first thing that struck me was that their food philosophy was in sync with the actual food they serve! There is no false advertising! Here is an excerpt from their website:
Our Ingredient Standards (Our Never-Evers)
• NO rBST or hormones in milk and dairy.
• NO Hormones & antibiotics in meat. Our meats are hormone- and antibiotic-free with no animal byproducts used in feed. This kind of meat is referred to in the food industry as “never-ever” meat – it is never ever treated with hormones or antibiotics.
• NO fried food. Our food is prepared fresh daily; we do not serve fried, unhealthily processed, or microwaved food. We do not even allow “flash-fried” products in our meals.
• NO high fructose corn syrup, ever.
• NO artificial trans fats, ever.
• NO artificial colors, flavors or sweeteners.
• All ingredients meet Whole Foods Market’s stringent quality standards.
Our Nutrition Standards
• We only offer non-flavored milk, and all our milk for K-12 students is 1% or nonfat.
• We strive to offer foods with little or no added sugar.
• Our meals on average contain no more than 30% of their calories from total fat and no more than 10% of calories from saturated fats.
• All of our baked goods (tortillas, breads, breakfast pastries) contain whole grains.
• We offer a variety of vegetables, including dark green and orange vegetables, throughout the week.
• We do not serve juice with our breakfasts or lunches.
• We offer a variety of fresh fruits over the course of a week, and we do not serve canned fruit.
• We offer fresh salads every day.
• We feature low-fat dairy products, in our meals.
Also, Ive heard that the other 2 Charters in Hoboken may also go with Revolution Foods, meaning greater buying power for them. I'm hoping that at this point we will be able to convince the public schools to give Revolution Foods a shot.
Revolution Foods is quite active in charter schools here in D.C. as well. I'm not impressed by all the chest thumping of reduced fat. Fat is an essential macro-nutrient--one of only two, the other being protein. I'd be much more impressed if they said what kinds of fats they were using, and if those included lots of healthy fats such as olive oil, coconut oil, avocado. The hysteria over fat really needs to end, and we should be focusing more energy on eliminating unhealthy carbs from school food.
ReplyDeleteAgreed!
ReplyDeleteAfter all the hysteria has died down though the food served by RF is much better for the kids.
The major drawback I see is that it's more expensive (+6c per meal) so schools have to make up the difference, much harder to do in a public school setting.
Their information sounds good. I hope they are also serving nut free food..
ReplyDeleteLinda
I just checked their website. UGH! they have nuts in their products and our processed in nut facilities. I don't know how many school contract with them. So many school have policies regarding nuts, I can't believe, they even offer the product. I'm glad they're not at my daughter's school for this very serious reason. If the new charter school is going to contract with them, I hope they have checked with parents regarding allergies. scary
ReplyDeleteHi Anon,
ReplyDeleteI'm going to investigate it further, have already made contact with Revolution Foods to see if they do accommodate for a nut-free environment. I'll let you know.
I actually contacted them through their webstie. There are two parts to their company. There is the school food service with hot meals. This is nut free and is separate from their retail products available in stores (which do have some nut ingredients). They are senstivie to this issue. This makes me feel alot better.
ReplyDeleteThanks for posting the information.
Linda
Thanks Linda! I think that Revolution Foods will be a nice addition to our area. I think they are building a company with a great philosophy, and at least you can work with them. Let see what happens as the company grows.
ReplyDeleteJust curious, what the school lunch has been like this year. The menu looks similar
ReplyDelete