Food Service
Many people do not know much about the Cafeteria at Dallastown or any school's Food Service Program. A lot has changed throughout the years. Such as, the rules dealing with the Government, the food, and the price of school lunches. Also, an a la cart line has been added, the amount of people that work in the cafeteria has changed, and the student's attitudes has changed as well.
Dealing with the changing government rules, Mrs. Deb Yost had this to say, "When you are serving food, you have to wear plastic gloves. Also, you have to take the temperature of the food to make sure it is the right temperature." Mrs. Sue Ayres replied, "The biggest rule is about safety, for example the temperature of the food, the temperature of the refrigerators, and the dietary guidelines. The guidelines watch the calorie intake of the students. There are some regulations that the cafeteria workers have to abide by and they are hair nets have to be worn, the workers have to wash their hands and count for twenty seconds until the can start to rinse the soap off, and the workers have to wear leather shoes." Ms. Gloria Leader exclaimed, "The biggest rule is with the fat count, you can't put butter on anything, can't use salt, and over the years we've been lowering the sugar count." "The one thing that we have to do now is to keep a production record," Mrs. Janet Keller stated,"that is a written record of how much, and what food was used during each day."
The food in the cafeteria has changed a lot. Ms. Leader proclaimed, "Some of the food we made in the past was, meatloaf, homeade soup, biscuits, cookies, and we also had to peel potatoes. Now the food comes already made, and since you don't have to prepart much, labor has changed as well." "Three things that stick out in my mind that we use to make are pot pie, green beans, ham, and potatoes," commented Mrs. Keller. "The food was mostly homeade, but now it is mostly pre-made or fast food. Also, now we have food tasting sections, we can find out what the student like, and want," Mrs. Ayres remarked. "The main thing is all the food comes already prepared, and all you have to do is to put it in to the oven and you are done," mentioned Mrs. Yost. "For example mashed potatoes, we use to mash and peel them by hand, but now they come in cans."
The prices of school lunches have changed throughout the years. Mrs. Keller explained, "In 1959, a lunch was $.25." "Eight years ago (1990) a lunch was $1.15, and now it is $1.50," declared Mrs. Yost. "The price of lunches depends on the labor, cost of food, and how much food the government gives you," Mrs. Ayres pronounced. Something rather new has been added to the cafeteria, and it is called the a la cart line. Mrs. Keller replied, "About seven years ago the line was added." "The a la cart line became apart of the cafeteria in 1990," exclaimed Mrs. Ayres. "The a la cart line has become popular with the students because of the food variety," stated Mrs. Yost, "a lot of students will eat lunch and come to the a la cart line for a snack."
The students have changed over the years too. Mrs. Ayres had this to say, "The students like to grab food and go, and also don't like to wait. They like to eat hand foods and sandwiches." Mrs. Keller commented, "The students don't like homeade food." "Just to name a few changes in the students, their attitudes and manners haven't gotten better, but they are eating better," mentioned Ms. Leader. Mrs. Yost proclaimed, "The students are more disrespectful but, most of the kids are friendly and will carry on a conversation with you."
As you can see, many things have changed over the past years. Most have changed for the good in the cafeteria at Dallastown. Hope you have learned more about the Food Service in the school, and are looking forward to many more changes to come in the near future.
