Sioux City schools struggle amid food shortages
SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) — School lunches have become one of the many areas being impacted by national supply chain issues, and local school districts are struggling to get a hold of needed items.
Pizza, cereal, cinnamon rolls, spices, Crispitos, paper products, breads, pastas and yogurts are just a few of the items districts are struggling to find.
The Sioux City School food services department has struggled to get some of these items, Director Rich Luze said.
“It is snowballing, and the snowball’s running fast downhill,” he told the Sioux City Journal. While the school has been able to keep ahead of the changes, the district had to issue a last minute change for the first time on Monday, Nov. 15.
Lunchtime Solutions manages the meal departments for schools across the tri-state area, including South Sioux City and Dakota Valley. The supply issues make every day a challenge, said Deni Winter, the vice president of business development, marketing and purchasing.
Earlier in the year, The United States Department of Agriculture warned of food shortages due to supply chain issues, and created a waiver to protect school meal programs from being penalized if shortages prevented them from meeting certain school meal requirements.
When the waiver was issued, Luze applied, but said the shortage was not as noticeable. Now, every day a manufacturer is telling the district they are not making a product or the product is unavailable.
Sioux City has been able to make substitutions that were almost unnoticeable. Instead of the popular Crispitos, Luze said they substituted chicken taquitos. Instead of chili and cinnamon rolls, students are getting chili and corn bread.
When the school had to put out a last minute change notice, students were expecting a hot calzone-type meal, but it...