The Nutrition Group continues to foster healthy food choices and encourage student participation in breakfasts and lunch options offered in the Tamaqua Area School District.

Amy Hehn, director of food and nutrition, updated the school board and administrators Tuesday on the district’s food program and some of the new offerings this school year.

“We’re always looking to control our costs, increase participation, get more students through the lunch line and participating in our breakfast program,” she told the board.

The Nutrition Group also works on nutrition education programs, like offering a free fruit Friday at Tamaqua Elementary, where they offered a variety of rare fruits, such as papaya, kiwi, and mango, outside the lunch line, encouraging all students to sample them, Hehn said.

“We talk to them about ... eating your colors,” she said. “So, eating all different colors of fruits and vegetables so you get a variety of nutrients, and not just eating, grapes.”

They also work at engaging students through initiatives such National School Lunch Week, which is next week and will be pirate themed, Hehn said.

“We have lots of extra things planned for them, giveaways, prizes, special foods,” she said. “We’re going to do cake bites … with some icing and red and black sprinkles to make it pirate. We have some cups that we’re doing some dotted lines on to make it look like a treasure map.”

Personnel also participated in training as they prepared for the school year, reviewing cost controls and safe food handling procedures, Hehn said.

The Nutrition Group also reviewed budget numbers, exceeding food sales for breakfast, lunch and a la carte offerings, she said.

“I do think that a lot of the new foods and a lot of the things that we’re introducing to the students, they’re excited about,” Hehn said.

One of those offerings is boba, or drinks that include small-edible pearls found in bubble tea, which is a hit or miss with adults, she said.

“Starbucks brand was pushing boba all summer. Now, they can come and purchase it school as well,” Hehn said, noting that it’s only offered at the high school.

The drinks sell for $3 for a 16-ounce cup, which is a higher priced item, but they’re offsetting that with other, lower-cost items, such as the cake bites, which are $1.

Both strawberry lemonade and peach tea boba and cake bites were among the new offerings available to board members and administrators to sample during the committee meeting.

Hehn also had a variety of pizzas, including hot honey; and peanut butter and jelly overnight oatmeal cups, which she said were very popular take and eat breakfast offerings.

She also had a variety of different salad choices, such strawberry spinach, apple walnut, and garlic Parmesan Caesar salads, which are also popular among Tamaqua’s students, she said.

The Nutrition Group is also buying all of its lettuce for salads from Leah’s Lettuce, a local farm operated by Jake Atherly, a chemistry teacher in the district, who also talked to the board about getting students involved in the process of growing their own food.

Atherly will be reaching out to other staffers and students to gauge interest in an educational program geared toward agriculture.