Lasagna Kicks off New Lunch Feedback Program

Cheese lasagna with whole wheat pasta will be the first student-reviewed menu item.

Cheese lasagna with whole wheat pasta will be the first new menu item reviewed by DMPS middle and high school students under the Central Nutrition Center’s new lunch feedback program.

Beginning in February, the DMPS Central Nutrition Center will introduce one new menu item each month, and they want to know what students think about the selection.  Students are encouraged to Tweet about the food using @DMPS_Dining and review the item on the DMPS app, under the Dining icon (the one with the fork and spoon).

The app allows students to select their school and mealtime, see the lunch menu for the day and rate the items on the menu. Students can give the menu item a star rating (1 thru 5) and make comments.

“Sometimes it’s tough to know what students are thinking,” said Executive Chef Chad Taylor. “We usually hear about it when they don’t like something. This gives us an opportunity to hear more of their thoughts and ideas.”

The DMPS Central Nutrition Center puts a lot of effort into choosing what ends up on a school lunch tray.  Each item must meet first meet national nutrition requirements.  From there it’s tasted, tested to see if it can be mass produced safely and tasted again, sometimes using focus groups.  What they really want is to produce a product that is healthy, and that students will enjoy.

The new cheese lasagna with whole wheat pasta dish will be served on Thursday, Feb. 12 at the high schools and Friday, Feb. 13 at the middle schools.