Lodi Unified School District displays an example of what proposed salad bars at Lodi elementary schools might look like. (Courtesy photo)

Going green: Lodi schools to get all-you-can-eat salad bars

District staff introduced a plan Tuesday night at the Lodi Unified School District board meeting to place all-you-can-eat salad bars in six of its schools by August of this year.

The menu change is part of the district's attempt to encourage students to make healthy choices in the lunch line.

Schools will also try to eliminate non-nutritious snack and beverage items, such as chocolate milk, from campus.

"We hope, overall, our students will receive more fruits and vegetables," said Warren Sun, food services director at Lodi Unified.

During a trip to a Tracy school that had already implemented the salad-bar plan, Lodi Unified nutritionist JoAnne Porter noticed that younger children were more apt to use the bar, while older students went for pre-packaged salads.

Porter cited younger children's tendency to be pickier eaters, and older students' grab-and-go attitude as reasons for the difference.

With salad bars, Porter said, elementary school students will get to pick-and-choose what they want to eat.

Porter said that along with the salad bars, the district will eventually offer free fruit and vegetable tasting days to all students, whether they buy school lunch or not.

By letting students try new fruits and vegetables free of charge, Porter hopes they'll stumble upon a healthy choice that they really enjoy.

Such a plan could have helped when the district decided to put kiwis on school lunch menus.

"A lot of kids didn't even know what a kiwi was," Porter said.

The tasting will be coupled with a healthy dose of nutrition information on the featured food.

Porter said that while the district has offered healthy choices for years, the students don't always choose them.

Board member Peter Johnson said one of his children, on the other hand, was looking forward to the menu change.

"One of your 10-year-old customers that lives in my house is very excited about it," Johnson said to Sun.

Another parent echoed Johnson's enthusiasm.

Tammy Williams-Ankcorn, whose children attend Lodi Unified schools, serves mostly all-natural foods to her children at home and keeps sweets locked up in her pantry.

Although she only lets her children eat school lunches once a week, she was appalled to learn what they were able to eat at school.

"We have to limit their choices to healthy choices," Williams-Ankcorn said.

Contact reporter Amanda Dyer at amandad@lodinews.com.