FoodGuidelines

Food Guidelines Update as per House Bill 1
By now you have hopefully received or read information detailing the district’s new guidelines for medical and food related conditions as required by Ohio House Bill 1.

Clearly, the guidelines will result in some adjustments in the types of food provided for classroom parties, celebrations, snacks and so forth. Hopefully, working together, we can come into compliance with HB-1 without altering too many classroom traditions.

Just to clarify, this year all food provided for students to be distributed/consumed in the classroom must be pre-packaged, individual servings that include attached nutrition and ingredient labels. Some snack cakes/foods do not have the ingredients listed on the individual wrappers but the ingredients appear on the box. These are also acceptable, just so the box displaying the ingredients accompanies the treats. The ultimate goal of the new guidelines is to protect students with peanut or other food allergies and to promote a healthy environment for all students.

When planning to send classroom snacks with your child or planning snacks/treats to share with other students for a classroom party, such as birthday, we encourage parents to send in individually wrapped treats/foods that display attached ingredient labeling. However, to allow flexibility with the selection of foods and treats, items that are prepared in an inspected facility, such as a bakery, but are packaged in bulk with an ingredient label clearly posted on the package are permissible. Please advise the teacher prior to bringing any snacks/treats for the classroom. This will allow the teacher to notify in advance the parents of any students with health conditions.

Some examples of acceptable snacks/treats are:
 * pretzels/fish crackers
 * prepackaged Rice Krispie treats
 * prepackaged snack cakes
 * prepackaged bulk snack cakes – like those purchased from a grocery or bakery

We realize that this could pose a challenge for some. It is our hope that everyone understands that this action is being taken out of concern for student health and safety, to bring the District into compliance with HB 1, and for the protection of students with chronic health conditions.

The new guidelines do not impact what a student can bring to school for lunch. However, we have created suggestions for healthy lunches, snacks and alternative food rewards. The information is available on our district website – www.foresthills.edu - under the navigation buttons “Departments” – “Student Services” – “Health Guidelines/Updates”.

The guidelines also do not impact activities that take place outside of the school day including team or club meals, open houses, ice cream socials and so forth.

You can find additional information, including suggestions for healthy snacks, on our district website page “Health Guidelines/Updates.”