Module 3 - Shining Ideas from the Kitchen

Back-of-the-House Basics

Intro Video:

Manager: Welcome. I’m the manager of this kitchen, and I’d like to share some ideas with you on better ways to get more fresh fruits and vegetables on the breakfast program. If you’ll take a little tour of the kitchen with me, I’ll introduce you to some folks that can share those ideas with you. What we serve dictates so much: staff, kitchen space, and layout. Storage and even the serving areas. Adding more fresh fruits and vegetables to breakfast requires some changes. Let’s take a fresh look at some of those changes our shining stars are making.

Rod: The procedures for receiving your perishable produce are so important. And receiving the right quality of your specified produce is the most crucial aspect of receiving hands-down. If the product doesn’t meet your specifications you can refuse to accept it. So you’ve got to look at it, count it, smell it, taste it, even. Ask yourself, what’s the degree of ripeness? And keep in mind when the produce is going to be served. Remember, if you wouldn’t eat it, neither would the kids. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got to receive this delivery. The refrigerated produce needs to be moved into the walk-in as soon as possible.

Manager: Oh, he’s right. For every ten degrees shift in temperature, we lose two days of shelf life. This is why we post these produce storage charts and produce handling sheets, so that everyone is in the know. Let’s see what’s happening in the storage area.

Kara: First-in, first-out is always your priority for good produce rotation. That means the produce you’re taking in first is the produce you’re serving first. And equally important is where you store that produce. Pears, peaches, kiwis, strawberries, and tomatoes are all some of those fruits we have to handle with extra care, because they’re so fragile. We have to monitor the degree of ripeness so that we’re serving at the peak of freshness. For example, melons are so much more flavorful when they’re served really ripe. Kids love sweet, juicy fruit.

Manager: Safety is always paramount when serving food. Diana, can you tell us something about safely prepping fruits and veggies?

Diana: Today we’ll be prepping melons, and we’ll be serving them sliced with the skin still on. And we will clean them under cool, running water, with a produce brush, scrubbing really well. Washing them is so very important. And obviously, the cleanliness of your knives and cutting boards is a key to avoid cross-contamination.

Manager: Thanks Diana. These are just a few tips for serving more fresh fruits and vegetables to your students at the breakfast program. There’ll be more tips and resources later in this module. Bye for now!

Receiving Tips

If the product does not meet your standards of freshness, refuse to accept it.
Check that refrigerated items arrive at proper temperatures
Mark each item with the date it was received and note the “best if used by” date.

Storing tips:

Store produce with “best if used by” date visible and First In, First Out for storing..
Allow sufficient space between and around items for air circulation.
Produce requiring the lowest temperatures is stored in the back and on lowest shelf.
Separate ethylene-producing fruits. like pears from ethylene-sensitive vegetables such carrots.
Record refrigerator temperatures at least twice a day.
For the best quality, store refrigerated produce between 32-36?F with a relative humidity between 85-95%.
Stone fruits, avocados, melons, kiwifruit and pears won’t ripen in a refrigerator

Preparation Tips:

Check for ripeness and determine readiness to serve. Discard any wilted or discolored product immediately.
Cut up produce to the largest size acceptable for student’s age.
For fruits, such as pears and apples, that discolor, dip in orange or diluted lemon juice before serving
Use work simplification techniques use carts to move produce rather than carrying case by case. Set up work stations with everything in arms reach.
Compost unused portions of fruits and vegetables.

This kitchen has only one refrigerator for product storage. Take a moment to familiarize yourself with the product placement.

You have just received a produce delivery of 5 items. Broccoli, Carrots, Tomatoes, Peaches (unripe), and Bartlett Pears (ripe).

To determine product placement for each item consider:

whether the produce is an ethylene producer or is ethylene sensitive
appropriate storage temperature
degree of ripeness of produce

Determined the best storage location for the delivered product.

Broccoli is ethylene sensitive. Store Broccoli away from ethylene producers like apples and melons. Broccoli should be placed in the coldest part of the refrigerator by lettuce and other greens.

Tomatoes are ethylene producers. Tomatoes should be stored in dry storage away from sunlight and with good air circulation.

Peaches that are still firm need to be stored in a dry storage area until ripe. Ripe peaches can be stored in refrigeration (away from ethylene sensitive produce) for up to one week.

Carrots should be stored in the coldest part of the refrigerator (next to celery and greens) and away from ethylene producing produce.

Ripe pears should be refrigerated to slow the ripening process. Ripe pears continue to produce ethylene so storing them next to other stone fruit and ethylene producers is the correct storage location.

The correct storage location is essential to maintaining quality of fresh produce. As a reminder, to determine product placement for each item consider; whether the product is an ethylene producer or is ethylene sensitive, the appropriate storage temperature, and degree of ripeness of product.

Great-Tasting Safely Prepared Produce

Sink Area

Thoroughly wash fruits and vegetables, even trimmed and bagged produce, with cold running tap water.
Scrub firm produce like melons and potatoes with a brush.
Grapes and plums have a natural dusty coating called “bloom”, rinse under cold water.

Preparation Area

Designate special knives and plastic cutting boards for cutting fresh fruits and vegetables only to help prevent cross-contamination.
Utensils, equipment, and work surfaces should be cleaned with soap and water, and then sanitized, between jobs.
Wear hair restraints, clean aprons, and gloves.
Always check the use-by or expiration date on products.
Wear gloves or thoroughly wash your hands with soap for 20 seconds in warm water before directly handling food items.

Transport Cart

Always transport cold produce and hot produce items at ideal transport temperatures.
Fruits and vegetables packaged in liquids should be transported in sealed containers or bags to avoid spillage.
Load cart with lightest products at the top and heaviest at the bottom.
Document food temperatures.

Refrigerated Area

Check refrigerator thermometer for ideal refrigeration temperatures.
Store produce, separately from and above raw meats, poultry, and seafood.
Remove refrigerated produce in small batches to prepare.
Refrigerate cut produce immediately to extend its shelf life.

Service Areas

Keep foods cold on a service bar, with an ice pad or ice.
Use sneeze guards or food shields for service that meet the local health standards.
Offer bar or buffet “etiquette” lessons for younger students and post breakfast/salad bar etiquette rules near the serving area.
Breakfast bars or buffets should be cleaned between each service.
Determine the reach of students for the correct depth of service cart or bar, and offer the same items on both sides of the bar.

Silver Platter Service

Clip 1:
Lots of Choices

Kids love a lot of choices. Especially when it comes to eating. Maybe you could put out four or five fruits or vegetables and let us choose. Melons are perfect for adding a lot of color, and they come in different shapes. Watermelon, honeydew, cantaloupe, balls, slices, wedges, cubes, chunks…All fun to eat. Try giving us vegetables in different ways, too. You can put tomatoes and avocado slices on your egg sandwiches. Peppers and onions in our potatoes, and fresh tomato salsa on a breakfast burrito for another day. And then as a special treat, try serving fruit parfaits or smoothies with berries and low-fat yogurt. Umm, I love those!

Clip 2:
Looks and Tastes Great

Have a group of us plan breakfast menus for one week that features a different color fruit every day for taste testing. Or our class could design a pledge banner for the cafeteria that students could sign every time they tried a new fruit.

Clip 3:
Easy to Eat

I like fruits and vegetables that are easy to eat, and I like it when I can reach everything myself. I like munching on baby carrots, and I like orange smiles, too. My mom knows I eat more vegetables if they’re cut up into bite-size pieces, and some fruit is already the right size, like mandarins, grapes, and plums. Sometimes at breakfast at school, when fruit comes in a package, it looks more yummier when I can see it really good.

Clip 4:
Exciting Combinations!

One way to encourage children to eat more fruits and veggies at breakfast is to offer high-quality produce at its peak of freshness. To make breakfast even more exciting to eat, combine fresh fruits and vegetables with other breakfast items in interesting and creative ways. These exciting combinations are enjoyed by children where school breakfast is a real success. Waffles and oatmeal can be even more tasty with oranges, grapes, or kiwifruit. Breakfast burritos are a perfect opportunity to serve sliced avocado and fresh tomato salsa. Muffins or scones can be paired up with a fresh fruit smoothie, or yogurt with a fresh fruit salad. Even dry cereal will be more delicious and nutritious if it comes with a whole nectarine or peach. And no student can resist celery with peanut butter and raisins. Fresh fruits and vegetables mix well with almost all breakfast foods, so start offering those exciting combinations today.

Do You Have Flair?

Over the last month have you or your staff…

Garnished fresh cut fruit with a contrasting colored fruit?
Spruced up the cafeteria or dining room environment so it will have more color, and be more inviting?
Used different heights of serving containers to create visual interest?
Moved the trash cans away from serving lines and eating area?,
Jazzed up the appearance of cafeteria service staff with colorful aprons, visors, or name tags?
Used serving containers of different shapes?
Used contrast in textures and temperatures of produce?
Completed a Quality Score Card From Fruits and Veggies Galore?
Replenished serving pans to keep them as full as possible?
Served all aromatic, sweet, juicy, ripe fruit and crispy, crunchy veggies?

Bright Ideas From Others

Students love the garden bar for breakfast!
Renee Dykstra says "When I first started telling people that I was going to do the salad bar for breakfast, they all kind of looked at me. “Yeah, right, you know, the kids are gonna take vegetables for breakfast?” But they actually are. They’re increasing their intake of fruits and vegetables like this. And when we started the salad bar, there was some concern over the labor and how much work was gonna be involved in setting up the salad bar for breakfast. But they found out that it really doesn’t add any extra work to it, and we use a lot of the pre-cut carrot sticks, and the salad comes already bagged up, so most of the items are really easy to put out on the salad bar. And if there is anything left over for breakfast on the salad bar, we can just put it on again that same day for lunch, so there’s no waste with it at all. Another concern that was brought up was, is it gonna take a lot of room in our refrigerators to store all those fruits and vegetables that we’re adding to the salad bar? And actually, we’re serving about thirty percent of our population at the school, and it didn’t add a whole lot of extra space that we had to make for the fruits and vegetables that we were bringing in, so it did not cause any problems in that aspect. So overall, adding the salad bar was an awesome thing that we started at our schools, and the kids are just loving it. "

What a difference it makes when we make it easy to eat!
Laura Bullene Jacobo says "One of the challenges we all face in our schools is to increase consumption of fruits and vegetables, and, with just a few changes to your presentation and menu, you can increase consumption at all sites. One of the obvious things is to check the trash cans once your students have eaten. And what I found is mostly whole fruits and vegetables go in the trash. When something’s cut and ready to go, the students are more apt to pick it up, just like we would at home for a snack. And so, by maybe using a sectionizer and cutting the oranges into bite-size pieces, using the apples that are pre-packaged into small, uniform servings to make it ready-to-go, fruit on-the-go. We did a lot of thinking, a lot of research, and these strategies increased consumption. And you can, too, at your school."

Reallocating district resources to maximize efficiency and ability to serve more fresh produce.
Miuki Carson says "Central location, we have nine elementary schools, and three junior high schools, and one high school. Out of this central kitchen we are serving 7,000 or about 8,000 students every day. Breakfast, lunch, and maybe little snacks, also. Since we started this central kitchen, our production has just gone up sky high. It is still going up. By focusing our resources on this central kitchen, I think, I believe we are saving lots of money on each individual school site. Compared to our old kitchen, we just did not have storage at all. Because you need space to put big, and they’re kind of big, packaging machine. And this central kitchen has space, so we can have this great overwrap machine that’s the heart of our central kitchen. Say, fresh oranges come in like 120 oranges in a case, and by four people working it takes only 3-4 minutes to produce salad or salad bar for secondary schools now. Before, we had to use, like two or three sinks and water, and another water, and it’s still dirty, but now we’ve got this vegetable/fruits washer, and it’s just so simple. We have a huge storage space, so we can store more fresh produce. Yes, same number of employees from old kitchen, but we’re producing way more fresh fruits and canned fruits, and different kinds of varieties of fruits and vegetables."

We feel great about the healthy habits these kids are forming.
Elizabeth Parra says "Even though I was an active child, sometimes I didn’t make the right choices, so now I have a chance to make the difference. And I do that by offering them some vegetable platters and some fruit platters. That way they’ll understand the content of what they’re eating, how much they’re eating, and why it’s important to eat them for the rest of their life."

Module 3 - Comprehension Check