July 19—With new federal standards for school meals going into effect this month, and a renewed focus on the issue brought by the first lady, Michelle Obama, thousands of school chefs, food service workers and nutrition experts from around the country gathered in Denver this week at an annual conference put on by the School Nutrition Association.
As vendors hawked samples of every imaginable school fare—whole-grain rolls, turkey sandwiches, pizza squares—cooks and school food administrators traded tips on how to improve their schools’ cuisine. These improvements must be made as part of the new federal Department of Agriculture nutrition standards for school meals, which seemed to be the main topic of conversation.