Bob Casey Promotes Mushrooms As Healthy School Lunch Solution

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Chester County’s mushroom industry is getting a boost from Sen. Robert Casey and the U.S. Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry.

Senator Robert P. Casey
Senator Robert P. Casey

Casey and the committee are shining the light on mushrooms as nature’s hidden treasure for providing healthier meals to school children.  The senator recently served mushroom meatballs – a new product that meets school nutrition guidelines now being introduced into school lunches – as the committee heard testimony from school food service directors.

Pennsylvania is the top producing mushroom state in the country, and Sen. Casey commended the mushroom industry, foodservice directors and meat processors for working together to find solutions such as blended mushroom/meat meatballs that appeal to kids and meet USDA school lunch guidelines.

“Mushroom blendability is a delicious example of the effective product innovations that are improving school meals for America’s children,” said Dayle Hayes, president of School Meals That Rock.   “Blending chopped mushrooms, now available through USDA Foods, with ground meat allows schools to serve burgers, meatballs and tacos that are lower in calories, fat and sodium. Students eat more vegetables while enjoying healthful versions of their favorite foods. This is win-win-win for kids, school nutrition professionals and agriculture.”

When school lunch meal pattern requirements changed in 2012 to improve student health, the mushroom industry, foodservice directors and industry processors began working together to make mushrooms an option for school cafeterias.  The Mushroom Council has recipes for blending mushrooms to increase vegetable consumption within school lunch budgets here: www.mushroomsinschools.com.

In Chester County mushrooms are THE top vegetable crop, according to the Chester County government.  The county’s 61 mushroom farms account for 47 percent of the total U.S. mushroom production and contribute about $2.7 billion to the local economy through sales, employment, taxes, and supportive service industries.

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Top photo credit: psyberartist via photopin cc
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