EDISON, N.J. – New Jersey high school students and school officials previewed the newest lunch and breakfast offerings available from food manufacturers for the 2025-26 school year during the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Foods Conference at the New Jersey Convention and Exposition Center.
The New Jersey Department of Agriculture (NJDA) administers the USDA Foods Distribution program which takes USDA foods and distributes them to food processors at a reduced cost to school districts.
The conference attendees — approximately 450 school food service directors, superintendents, business administrators, and students from around New Jersey — could sample meals they can order for the 2025-2026 school year that meet the National School Lunch Program requirements. Food vendors as well as school administrators understand the USDA nutrition requirements that schools must meet when serving food in schools. There were 45 vendors that supplied samples to those in attendance.
“This is an important event for school district food service directors and the personnel who make decisions about which food to serve their students next year,” NJDA Secretary Ed Wengryn said. “The variety of nutritious meal options are appealing to the students as well as meeting the USDA requirements. The students participate by testing and scoring the potential options which provides key feedback that assists the school districts and food service companies in the food choices they make available.”
More than 50 students from various districts around the state were involved in sampling the food. Each student was encouraged to give feedback to the food service companies or school officials on the samples offered.
“I didn’t realize how many different things there were in the food programs for schools, and it’s been really good,” said Samantha Seay, a senior at Cumberland Regional High School. “I liked a lot of it.”
“I loved really going around and seeing what we could make a change for in our different cafeterias,” said Noella Oldham, a senior at Lower Cape May Regional High School. “A lot of it was really good. I wasn’t expecting so much flavor from everything.”
The students also were glad their opinions were wanted on the various offerings.
“I think it’s important because we are the ones eating it,” Seay said. “You want the kids to like it and buy it every day.”
“It means a lot because it’s very nice to hear they are willing to listen to students’ opinions to try and go in the direction we want and what the district wants,” Oldham said. “It’s nice to have our opinion weighed in the matter.”
“The food that I tried was very good,” said Xavier Burgos, a junior at Camden High School. “Everything was very healthy, and there were some things that you would never think about that were healthy. I feel like it’s very cool and special that they want to hear kids’ opinions to know what they like and what they want.”
The conference also featured training sessions from NJDA Food and Nutrition Division staff that included Farm to School, Food Distribution, the Summer Food Service Program, the Child and Adult Care Food Program, and Child Nutrition.
“The feedback we receive from this kind of conference allows us to better plan ahead for next year and the future in general so we can satisfy the needs of the districts and their students as well as the USDA school meal requirements,” said Keith Leder, the President of the New Jersey School Nutrition Association and Region Lead at Maschio’s Food Service. “Our top priority is to have nutritious and great tasting food options from which to choose.”
Food vendors as well as school administrators understand the USDA nutrition requirements that schools must meet when serving food in schools.
“This conference allows us to learn more about the entire process, and to be able to give and receive feedback first-hand is invaluable,” said Cindy Sue Schaller, the Food Service Director for the Monroe Township School District. “The interactions we have here allow us to create conversations that might not normally happen. We want to make the absolute best choices for our students, which for us have included using the Local Food For Schools Grant to incorporate local produce into our meals.”
— New Jersey Department of Agriculture
