Continued: School food survey gives Minneapolis an F

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Minneapolis Public Schools got a failing grade in a national study of the amount of processed foods such as hot dogs and breakfast sausage served in big city school districts. But it's a bitter pill for a district that has worked to make its menus healthier.

The findings by the Cancer Project are dramatized in a 30-second TV commercial that began airing in the metro area Thursday. The commercial shows children eating hot dogs and telling adult-like stories about being diagnosed with cancer.

Minneapolis school officials disputed the study's methods and called it biased.

"There's so many misconceptions about school food service that it's really sad," said Rosemary Dederichs, Minneapolis Public Schools food service director.

The Washington-based Cancer Project is an advocacy group that touts the role of nutrition in battling cancer.

As part of the survey, nutritionists reviewed one month of breakfast and lunch menus from 28 urban school districts. Only Denver and San Francisco school districts were rated satisfactory.

Cancer Project officials said the commercial aired in Austin last week and will air in the Twin Cities, Chicago, Los Angeles, Philadelphia and Washington, D.C., this week. It's also available on YouTube.

"In Minneapolis the lunches weren't too terrible, but they were bad enough," said Jennifer Reilly, senior nutritionist for The Cancer Project. "But the breakfasts tended to be worse because there was usually one [processed] item offered."

Breakfast was big problem

Researchers counted the number of times processed items appeared on schools' breakfast and lunch menus. In Minneapolis, 1 to 10 percent of the items served for lunch were processed. For breakfast that figure jumped to 100 percent thanks to a smaller variety of entrees, Reilly said.

Minneapolis' food service director took issue with the fact that reviewers never contacted her or district staffers to request information for the report.

"We take exception to this group and the way they put together their data," she said. "They've done some research and thrown out a report that's biased," she said.

Dederichs took over Minneapolis' food service department in 2003 and was recently appointed to a national school nutrition committee that will make recommendations for updating federal nutrition programs.

Dederichs said she hopes the commercial and the study don't overshadow the changes the district has made to its menus. Three years ago Minneapolis introduced free breakfast programs for all students, added more fruits, vegetables and whole grains to its menus and cut portion sizes for many of its snacks.

"Our products aren't the same products you would get in the grocery store," Dederichs said. "They have to meet certain standards."

Federal school nutrition standards require that less than 30 percent of a meal's calories come from fat. Dederichs said Minneapolis' menus exceed that goal with an average closer to 25 percent.

She said the district serves very few processed pork products because of its large Muslim population. "We serve all-beef hot dogs," she said.

Reilly said the study isn't meant to smear a district but to bring attention to the challenges districts face in providing healthful meals.

"Minneapolis is one of the better districts among those that were failing," Reilly said. "We understand districts work with tight budgets."

The study reported that up to 58 percent of the items on Chicago schools' menus were processed. Reilly said that's because the low-cost foods to which districts have access under federal nutrition programs include several processed meats.

Patrice Relerford • 612-673-4395