School Food

Metro Nashville Public Schools (MNPS) currently serve meals to over 78,000 students - 70% of whom qualify for free or reduced lunch.

In 2011 a School Nutrition Committee was formed within Alignment Nashville, consisting of parents, MNPS and Metro Health Department staff, and is working to increase opportunities for children to make healthy choices inside and outside of the cafeteria.

Nashville's Communities Putting Prevention to Work (CPPW) campaign is working with partners to encourage the Metro Nashville School Board to adopt the Institute of Medicine (IOM) recommendations for meal plans and vending that will:

• expand the availability of healthy foods and beverages including fruits and vegetables, whole grains and low-fat milk;
• and decrease the availability of unhealthy foods and beverages including decreasing salt in food preparation.

CPPW funding provided the opportunity for an audit of MNPS school nutrition services to be conducted in the Spring of 2011 by the Council of Greater City Schools, a group of experts from six different school districts nationwide. Their evaluation looked at food preparation, organizational structure, procurement, warehousing, among other indicators in order to make recommendations on how MNPS can work toward achieving the IOM recommendations.