March is National Nutrition Month and Jefferson-Scranton School District have taken steps to ensure a healthier lunch menu is provided and vending machines choices are healthier too.

Jefferson-Scranton School District Nutrition Supervisor Kay Sesker says their current cycle of lunch menus now include healthier options for students.

At the beginning of the school year, the district hired a consultant to reconfigure the menus to comply with new government rules.  According to the Food and Nutrition Service of the US Department of Agriculture, some of the new government rules for the 2012-13 school year were to increase the availability of fruits, vegetables and whole grains.  It also states that schools must reduce the levels of sodium, saturated fat and trans fat in lunch and breakfast menus.

Sesker says that the vegetables that are offered this year are from different sub groups and they serve more fresh and canned fruit everyday.  She comments that there is a salad bar at the high school to give students even more of a variety.

At Greene County High School, students and staff saw a change to healthier options there too.  Sesker notes that the beverage machine is no longer filled with soda but instead, it has regular bottled water, flavored water, milk and 100% fruit juice items.  In the snack vending machines, there is nothing over 200 calories and companies must be mindful of trans fats and sodium as well.

Sesker points out that in the near future, changes to healthier choices of breakfast items will be made to coincide with more governmental rules.