FORT SILL, Okla. (Nov. 13, 2014) -- Fort Sill is setting the standard for excellence in the Army with the start of the new USDA healthy foods menu, being piloted at the School Age Center (SAC) and Tincher Child Development Center (CDC).
The six-week rotational menu will provide nutritiously balanced and healthy meals for all children at the CDCs and improve efficiency and effectiveness across Installation Management Com-mand (IMCOM). It will also reduce labor stress by standardizing products, recipes and preparations, and encourage maximum participation and communication with parents and caregivers.
"This brings efficiencies in ordering and with the staff, you don't have to train on a new menu every week. It's should create maximum participation among even the parents," said chef Russ Littel, Family and Morale, Welfare and Recreation Business Initiatives food and beverage specialist. "If you look at the menus, the links are to the recipes that have been tested through the National Food Service Manage-ment Institute at the University of Mississippi. The goal of the standardized menu is to run it every six weeks, that way parents know what the kids are going to get on a daily basis."
With the support of IMCOM, the new menu debuted on Fort Sill this month.
For the next six weeks, Tincher and SAC will prepare and serve the items established in the USDA menu. Grierson and Cooper child development centers will then be phased in beginning in December.
Mexican chicken, with steamed rice, orange-sweetened carrots, and mangoes are among the items in the new menu.
"Everything is nutritious," said Littel. "If it's a waffle it's a whole grain waffle. If it's cereal, it's a whole grain cereal. (The menu) involves all the colors, orange, green, reds, your blues. They are visually appealing and have the nutritious value."
What will soon become an Armywide program, Fort Sill is leading the way as the first installation to begin serving the menu.
"The overall goal is to run it here (Tincher and SAC) and then all the centers will eventually run with this," said Littel. "Fort Gordon, Georgia, has also taken these menus voluntarily, but eventually, the goal is to make this a mandatory program. This could very well affect 29,000 to 30,000 kids on a daily basis Armywide."
The program origins came from the severe inefficiencies that were noticed throughout the Child Youth School Services as a whole, Littel said. Purchasing power will be streamlined through the Joint Service Prime Vendor program and help produce improved cost-savings benefits.
"We are pretty excited about kicking this off," said Col. Glenn Waters, Fort Sill Garrison commander. "It's healthy for the kids and we expect cost-savings across CYS facilities, how can you beat that. There's no real change in prep-time, so with the same prep-time you get a better quality meal ... a healthier meal."
Benefits to the new menu can be seen at many different levels in the military and civilian sides.
"The parents, they're going to look at nutrition value. The centers and the garrison, they're going to look at labor costs," said Littel. "different groups look at different benefits. The kids will ask how it tastes and so far, they like it."
Going beyond the standards set by the Healthy Base Initiative program, which did not focus on either medical facilities or child care, Fort Sill is ahead of the game, said Littel. Implementation of this program will supplement Operation Live Well, through the department of health.
"We are taking it upon ourselves, to take this action," said Waters. "We will compliment that federal policy. That's where the schools and superintendents will see the healthy side of it ... they all want to come see this because they see the benefits for this."
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