New Jersey high school students and school officials gathered at the New Jersey Convention and Exposition Center to preview new lunch and breakfast offerings for the 2025-26 school year. The event was part of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Foods Conference.
The New Jersey Department of Agriculture (NJDA) manages the USDA Foods Distribution program, which provides USDA foods to food processors at a reduced cost for school districts.
Around 450 attendees, including school food service directors, superintendents, business administrators, and students from across New Jersey, sampled meals that comply with National School Lunch Program requirements. A total of 45 vendors presented samples.
“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 stated. “The variety of nutritious meal options are appealing to the students as well as meeting the USDA requirements.”
More than 50 students participated in sampling the food and provided feedback to both food service companies and school officials.
“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.”
Students appreciated having their opinions considered on various offerings.
“I think it’s important because we are the ones eating it,” Seay noted. “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,” Oldham added.
“The food that I tried was very good,” commented Xavier Burgos, a junior at Camden High School. “Everything was very healthy.”
The conference also included training sessions by NJDA Food and Nutrition Division staff covering topics such as Farm to School, Food Distribution, Summer Food Service Program, 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,” said Keith Leder, President of the New Jersey School Nutrition Association. “Our top priority is to have nutritious and great tasting food options from which to choose.”
