Children spend a large part of their lives in school, where they consume as much as half their daily calories. A healthy school food environment ensures that students have access to healthy and appealing foods, messaging around nutrition that is accurate and consistent, whether it’s in the classroom or lunchroom, and ways to learn about and develop skills to make healthy food choices (U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2024).
General resources that support a healthy school food environment can be found below. Dedicated resources for Farm to School & ECE and the Smarter Lunchrooms Movement can be found on their respective subpages.
Resources
Browse these resources to learn more about the CalFresh Healthy Living, UC Healthy School Food Initiative.
- School Meal Explainer Videos
- What's in a School Lunch? – This video provides a brief, 5 minute overview of school lunch requirements.
- External Resources
- Explore these external resources for additional information related to Healthy School Food.
- USDA Team Nutrition – Provides information and resources for child nutrition programs.
- California Department of Education: Nutrition What's New Page – Contains the latest news for school meal programs in California, including training opportunities, policy, funding, and more.
- Institute of Child Nutrition – Provides information, training, and resources for child nutrition programs, such as school lunch, school breakfast, and the Child and Adult Care Food Program.
CalFresh Healthy Living, UCCE Highlight
At Esparto Elementary School, students have a voice in their school cafeteria thanks to the Cafeteria Ambassadors, a SNAC (Student Nutrition Advisory Council) Club.
With support and guidance from Annalise Traub, CalFresh Healthy Living, UCCE Yolo County Nutrition Educator, Cafeteria Ambassadors worked with school and district leadership to implement healthy changes in the cafeteria. As a result of the SNAC Club efforts, there is now a nutrition bulletin board showcasing colorful student artwork and Harvest of the Month marketing materials to highlight salad bar items, as well as new salad bar menu labels with creative and engaging names like “Crispy Cucumber,” “Colorful Salad Mix,” and “Cool Corn”.
The Cafeteria Ambassadors led a school-wide taste test of a beet salad, introducing approximately 200 students to local beets and apples from nearby farms and showcasing the Farm to School program. The beet salad was a hit, with the majority of students saying they liked it and would try it again.
These successes also boosted student confidence, with Cafeteria Ambassadors all agreeing that they gained skills through serving their community that will help them in the future and that they are more confident in themselves. Since then, the Esparto Unified School District received a California Department of Food and Agriculture Farm to School grant. This grant will enable the district to purchase locally sourced produce for school meals and enhance farm-to-school efforts.
Please email Anna Jones to share stories, photos, or other items you would like to see featured in CalFresh Healthy Living, UC's Healthy School Food highlights.
Healthy School Food Subpages
Trainings
Explore recorded webinars and training resources for healthy school food and other program topics.
CalFresh Healthy Living, UCCE [...] supports us by interacting with the students and providing nutrition education... We use the information they collect from surveys to inform our department on foods to add to our menus."
– Farm to School Coordinator, Fresno County