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Purpose/Objectives: School lunch meals often provide students with the majority of daily calories and prime opportunities to develop healthful eating habits. Plant-based entrées may increase variety of foods served and appeal to students, but may not appear frequently on school menus. A Washington, D.C.-based school partnered with local organizations to add vegan entrées to school lunch menus through marketing initiatives and assessments of plate waste and nutrition composition when compared to standard school lunch entrées. Methods: Researchers introduced six plant-based entrées at Washington, D.C.-based Walker-Jones Education Campus daily for four months to approximately 450 Kindergarten through eighth grade students. Various marketing initiatives and nutrition education materials promoted the entrées to the student body. Research staff compared plate waste when at least 25% of the entrée was consumed and the total calories, cholesterol, vitamins, saturated fat, and macronutrients of vegan entrées to standard entrées via t-test comparisons. Results: Plate waste showed no difference between the vegan and standard entrées when at least 25% of the entrée was consumed. Nutrient comparisons showed that the vegan entrées contained more calories, sodium, fiber, and vitamins, while standard entrées contained more protein. Applications to Child Nutrition Professionals: Students did select vegan menu options that provided comparable nutrition as standard entrées with no additional plate waste. School foodservice administrators could consider offering vegan menu entrées to maximize student participation in the meal program using information from this case study as a guide. This project involved multiple partners in an effort to demonstrate successful implementation of vegan entrées in a school meal setting.

PURPOSE/OBJECTIVES School lunch meals often provide students with the majority of daily calories and prime opportunities to develop healthful eating habits. Plant-based entrées may increase variety of foods served and appeal to students, but may not appear frequently on school menus. A Washington, D.C.-based school partnered with local organizations to add vegan entrées to school lunch menus through marketing initiatives and assessments of plate waste and nutrition composition when compared to standard school lunch entrées. METHODS Researchers introduced six plant-based entrées at Washington, D.C.-based Walker-Jones Education Campus daily for four months to approximately 450 Kindergarten through eighth grade students. Various marketing initiatives and nutrition education materials promoted the entrées to the student body. Research staff compared plate waste when at least 25% of the entrée was consumed and the total calories, cholesterol, vitamins, saturated fat, and macronutrients of vegan entrées to standard entrées via t-test comparisons. RESULTS Plate waste showed no difference between the vegan and standard entrées when at least 25% of the entrée was consumed. Nutrient comparisons showed that the vegan entrées contained more calories, sodium, fiber, and vitamins, while standard entrées contained more protein. APPLICATIONS TO CHILD NUTRITION PROFESSIONALS Students did select vegan menu options that provided comparable nutrition as standard entrées with no additional plate waste. School foodservice administrators could consider offering vegan menu entrées to maximize student participation in the meal program using information from this case study as a guide. This project involved multiple partners in an effort to demonstrate successful implementation of vegan entrées in a school meal setting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]