Willmar, other area schools deal with delivery and supply problems in providing school meals
Sep. 18—WILLMAR — This line is printed at the bottom of Willmar Public Schools menus: "Menu Subject to Product Availability."
It's never been needed as much as it has this fall.
Nationwide transportation problems and interrupted food supply chains — effects of the pandemic — are causing headaches for the staff that provide school meals for several thousand students each day.
"It's been nothing short of challenging to start the school year," said Annette Derouin, director of the Willmar Public Schools Food and Nutrition Services. She also oversees food services in the Montevideo and New London-Spicer districts and at Community Christian School in Willmar.
Planning ahead and having a well-organized system hasn't helped this year.
"We pre-book foods six to eight weeks in advance to make sure we have the foods we need," Derouin said in a phone interview this week.
But lately, some foods have not been available. Deliveries may arrive late or be short on some items. A distributor may need to offer a second or third choice for a missing item.
For example, the department recently ordered grilled chicken patties. They were not available, nor was the second choice of breaded chicken patties. Third choice was hamburger patties.
There has been good communication with distributors, but the issues remain.
Menus are carefully planned to meet government nutrition guidelines, and a substitute could change the nutritional value of a meal.
Changing the menus can be a health issue for children on special diets, too.
"If we can't get the items planned on the menu, it affects those children," Derouin said. If the carbohydrates in a meal have changed, school nurses need to know about it to make sure kids with diabetes get the proper amount of insulin.
"It's an entire supply chain issue right now," Derouin said. Some manufacturers have reduced the variety of products offered, and there's a nationwide shortage of truck drivers, packaging materials and workers. The Willmar food services staff is also short of workers.
Getting tortilla chips can be a problem, because companies can't get the plastic film to package them, she said.
Every effort is made to provide the foods listed on the menus, which include a mixture of scratch cooking and pre-made foods, she said.
Local grocery stores are not an option to fill gaps, "just because of the sheer volume we need," she said.
School districts are doing their best to keep families informed when menu changes need to be made.
"Thankfully, I have a really good staff," Derouin said. "We spend a fair amount of time talking about this almost daily. ... I feel like it's going to be a challenge all school year."
The Minnesota Department of Education has granted waivers that allow some flexibility for school districts when some foods are not available. Some substitutions could put the district in violation of nutrition guidelines.
The state is trying to help school districts with waivers and other support, but it can't solve the supply issues.
"Ultimately, it's about feeding kids," she said. "We're doing our best to feed the children of the district with what we've been presented with."
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