0920_September Comstock's Magazine September 2020 | Page 57

distributors — and their markups,
which can be as high as 25 percent of
the food cost — and use cash funds in
her budget to purchase directly from
food manufacturers.
“We’re building a (central) kitchen,
and we don’t necessarily want processed
products. We want to cook it ourselves,”
says Flores. “If we were to receive a
check, we would go out and bid and get
the best price for all our products. If we
want to buy local, we could. If we want to
buy California, we could.”
That could mean big savings too.
Last year, Nederveld lobbied in Washington,
D.C., for local sourcing and food
procurement as part of the Sacramento
Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce
Capitol-to-Capitol program’s food and ag
team, paid for by Nutrition Services (no
district funds were used to pay for this
event). She had the opportunity to show
the savings cash in lieu could provide.
“I pulled six or seven items off the
commodity list … strawberries, broccoli
florets, baby carrots, chopped romaine.
Things in our meal program now …
(that) we buy direct from the manufacturer
or the grower,” says Nederveld.
“The savings of us procuring without
USDA on cost alone is $270,000. Those
aren’t even high-volume items. The
commodity program is great for districts
that don’t have the resources that
we do in California.” The state has more
than 69,000 farmers that generate $50
billion annually in sales, yielding more
than 13 percent of all U.S. agriculture,
according to the California Department
of Food and Agriculture.
In order to replace SCUSD’s federal
commodity allowance with cash, a
new law must be passed. While Nederveld
has been working with various
members of Congress, discussions are
currently on hold due to the pandemic.
In the meantime, Flores and her
team are talking with companies who
provide USDA commodity foods, to
discuss options to purchase more raw
ingredients, like chicken, instead of
processed, frozen products like nuggets.
“If (we) process it ourselves, it’s going
to taste better for one, I know, and it’s
fresher, and it won’t have sat in a frozen
box somewhere for six months, and we
can control ingredients,” says Flores.
Balanced meals,
balanced budgets
Staff at SCUSD middle and high schools
already cook with raw ingredients like
chicken (purchased through a distributor)
and ground beef (available as a USDA
commodity food), says Nederveld. To
accommodate larger student bodies at
secondary schools, kitchen facilities are
larger and have sufficient staff. While facilities
are aging, Nederveld says upgrades
have been made to equipment to support
more cooking from scratch. About 60
percent of the menu at high schools are
cooked from scratch, says Flores.
Spring 2020 lunch menus from the
district’s comprehensive high schools
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September 2020 | comstocksmag.com 57