In a news release issued this week by the Food Research and Action Center (FRAC), the organization says that its annual School Breakfast Scorecard report underscores school breakfast participation as critical in combatting childhood hunger and learning loss caused by COVID-19. According to the report, more than 12.6 million low-income children received a free or reduced-price school breakfast on an average school day from September through February of the 2019–2020 school year. While this represents a 1.5 percent increase over the 2018-2019 school year, more needs to be done to ensure that the School Breakfast Program regains lost ground caused by the pandemic to reach more children in need.
“COVID-19 has caused alarming spikes in childhood hunger all across the country,” said Luis Guardia, president at FRAC. “As students return to the classroom, school breakfast will provide a critical source for children to get the nutrition they need for their health and learning.”
Nationally, school breakfast reached 58.4 low-income children for every 100 who participated in school lunch, an increase from 57.3 to 100 in the previous school year. West Virginia and Vermont were the only states to meet FRAC’s goal for states to reach 70 low-income children with school breakfast for every 100 who ate school lunch.
Now that more schools are starting to re-open there’s increased demand for shelf-stable, grab & go items for use in Classroom Feeding, especially Classroom Breakfast, which is our specialty at E S Foods. Our extensive line of Breakfast BREAKS and Meal BREAKS can fill that need. These meal kits along with our individually wrapped items are designed so students can handle the food themselves, making them an ideal choice for Classroom Lunch initiatives as well. Product highlights of our Breakfast BREAKS and Meal BREAKS:
- Shelf-stable meals (no refrigeration needed)
- Thaw & serve varieties
- Highly portable
- Components individually wrapped
- Include individual wrapped utensils
- Student handles own meal; requires no help from or prep by others
- Compliant with all mandated FDA standards