Food prices force groups that offer square meals to cut corners
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld ... 6363.story
The first four paragraphs talk about lunchrooms around the country but interestingly enough, after that, they discussed how this is affecting Ameriqual's MRE contracts and how Natick is looking at using Soy milk instead of regular milk for the milkshakes:
Food prices force groups that offer square meals to cut corners
By Nicole Gaouette, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
June 15, 2008
[...]
Military planners are considering switching troops from milkshakes to less expensive soy shakes. Federal prisons are cutting back on dessert. Schools are trimming workers' hours and replacing lasagna with more economical spaghetti. Infant-feeding programs are running on emergency funds. And federal officials have begun bartering for basics such as peanut butter to shore up depleted food banks.
[...]
The military has targeted the dairy shake. The Department of Defense orders about 17 million a year, said Gerald A. Darsch, the Pentagon's director of combat feeding. Each one provides 410 calories, 20 grams of protein, and half of the calcium and vitamin D that troops need daily. And unlike some items in their packages of MREs (meals ready to eat), troops actually consume the shakes.
One Pentagon contractor is considering a switch from dry milk to soy, or to a soy-dairy blend, to offset price increases.
But no substitution will be made if soldiers and Marines don't like the result.
"The key driver is the quality and the acceptability of the product," Darsch said.
Ameriqual Group, the largest maker of MREs, has seen dairy costs rise 30%. But under government rules, the company can request more money only if it suffers losses on its entire MRE contract.
"We are going to have to absorb those costs," said Rashid Hallaway, an Ameriqual vice president, adding that price increases also could be coming soon for other foods.
Budgets are tighter within the federal prison system, which serves half a million meals a day. The Federal Bureau of Prisons spends $2.65 per inmate per day for all three meals, which are set by a standardized national menu.
