Welcome to School Nutrition!

The Bedford County School Nutrition program is made up of a team of food and nutrition professionals that are dedicated to students' health, well being and their ability to learn. We support learning by promoting healthy habits for lifelong nutrition and fitness practices.

Meals, foods and beverages sold or served at schools meet state and federal requirements which are based on the USDA Dietary Guidelines. We provide students with access to a variety of affordable and appealing foods that meet the health and nutrition needs of students.

Nutritious Breakfast & Lunch at all 19 schools In Bedford County-  Each cafeteria provides a nutritious breakfast and lunch each day to students. The program serves approximately 2,500 breakfasts and 6,700 lunches each day in the school cafeterias across the county. The program employs about 130 staff members.

Our Program is Self Supporting- The school nutrition program is a totally self supporting program. The program receives no local tax funding or funding from the school system. The program is expected to make all of its own money. Funds are generated from the sales that are made each day in the school cafeterias, federal reimbursement that is received each month from all reimbursable meals served and state funding that is received once per year.

From these funds the program pays all of the salaries and benefits for employees, purchases all foods and supplies for the cafeterias, purchases new equipment when needed and repairs existing equipment and purchases all other items that are needed to run the program. As you can see, the school nutrition program is operating a business and is expected to be profitable. This is a fact that many people do not realize about the program.

Online Payments 

Online payments are a simple, safe and secure way to make payments to your students account 24 hours a day at your convenience.  Families may deposit funds to student meal accounts with their credit or debit card online at LINQ Connect This is a secure, third-party vendor.

Online payments have a processing fee of 3.95% of the transaction with a minimum fee of $2.85 per transaction.  

Payments may be made at no charge in all school cafeterias by cash or check.

There is no charge to maintain your LINQ Connect account, which allows families to view student meal transactions and set spending limits or restrictions.
 

Nutritious, Well-Balanced School Meals 
The school nutrition program strives to offer nutritious, well balanced school meals. The United States Department of Agriculture is the governing body that establishes meal requirements for school meals and local school nutrition programs are expected to follow these meal requirements. School menus are planned at the local level and a nutrition analysis is computed from a USDA approved computer program called Titan. The goal is for meals to contain no more than 30% calories from fat and no more than 10% calories from saturated fat averaged over a week of menus.

Four Entree Choices and More- The school nutrition program offers a wide variety of options each day in the school cafeterias. It is not an easy task to put a menu together since it is very difficult to please everyone. All schools offer at least four entrée choices each day with more at the middle and high schools. A variety of fruits and vegetables are offered and all milk options are either low fat or skim. Recent Government Accounting (GOA) reports state “school meals are healthy and children who eat school meals consume more fruits, vegetables, whole grains and dairy items than children who do not eat school meals.” 

If your child eats school meals we hope they enjoy their experience and we very much appreciate their business. If your child does not eat school meals we would invite them to give us a try. We would love to have them as our customer. Any questions or concerns regarding the school nutrition program can be directed to Suzanne Quesenberry, School Nutrition Supervisor at  540- 586-1045 ext. 10224.

Meal Substitutions for Medical or Special Dietary Reasons

USDA Regulation 7 CFR Part 15b requires substitutions or modifications in school meals for children whose disabilities restrict their diets. A child with a disability must be provided substitutions in foods when that need is supported by a signed statement from a licensed physician.

In Cases of Food Allergy:

Generally, children with food allergies or intolerances do not have a disability as defined under either Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act or Part B of IDEA, and the school food service may, but is not required to, make food substitutions for them.  However, when in the licensed physician’s assessment, food allergies may result in severe, life-threatening (anaphylactic) reactions, the child’s condition would meet the definition of “disability”, and the substitutions prescribed by the licensed physician must be made.

School food service may make food substitutions, at their discretion, for individual children who do not have a disability, but who are medically certified as having a special medical or dietary need.  Such determinations are only made on a case-by-case basis.  This provision covers those children who have food intolerances or allergies, but do not have life-threatening reactions (anaphylactic reactions) when exposed to the food(s) to which they have problems.

Medical Statement for Children with Special Dietary Needs

Each special dietary request must be supported by a statement explaining the requested food substitution and must be signed by a recognized medical authority. The Medical Statement must include:

An identification of the medical or other special dietary condition which
restricts the child’s diet;
The food or foods to be omitted from the child’s diet; and
The food or choice of foods to be substituted.

If we do not receive a medical statement from a recognized medical authority, your child will receive a regular lunch tray.  Medical statements completed by parents or guardians will not be accepted.

Raising the Bar for School Meals

In an effort to continually improve the quality of the menus we offer our students we are raising the bar on the standards of our school meals. Our focus is on enhancing the diet of students with more nutritious choices here at school and by providing nutrition education that will help students form healthy habits that last a lifetime!

Federal legislation known as Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010 authorizes funding and sets policy for USDA's core child nutrition programs: the National School Lunch Program, the School Breakfast Program, the Summer Food Service Program, and other federal food programs. The Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act allows USDA the opportunity to make real reforms to the school lunch and breakfast programs by improving the critical nutrition and hunger safety net for millions of children. This act has establish the healthy guidelines that form the basis for good nutrition in schools. We encourage you to follow similar healthy guidelines at home.

Key enhancements include an increase in the availability of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and fat-free and low-fat fluid milk in our meals. We are also reducing in the levels of sodium, saturated fat and eliminating added trans fat in meals. We do not supersize our meals, but instead strive to meet the nutrition needs of students within their age specific calorie requirements.

Non-discrimination Statement

In accordance with federal civil rights law and U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) civil rights regulations and policies, this institution is prohibited from discriminating on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex (including gender identity and sexual orientation), disability, age, or reprisal or retaliation for prior civil rights activity.

Program information may be made available in languages other than English. Persons with disabilities who require alternative means of communication to obtain program information (e.g., Braille, large print, audiotape, American Sign Language), should contact the responsible state or local agency that administers the program or USDA’s TARGET Center at (202) 720-2600 (voice and TTY) or contact USDA through the Federal Relay Service at (800) 877-8339.

To file a program discrimination complaint, a Complainant should complete a Form AD-3027, USDA Program Discrimination Complaint Form which can be obtained online or from any USDA office, by calling (866) 632-9992, or by writing a letter addressed to USDA. The letter must contain the complainant’s name, address, telephone number, and a written description of the alleged discriminatory action in sufficient detail to inform the Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights (ASCR) about the nature and date of an alleged civil rights violation. The completed AD-3027 form or letter must be submitted to USDA by:

This institution is an equal opportunity provider.