Seafood Loving Foodservice Director Promotes Fish on School Menus

The city of Greenville, South Carolina prompts many to think of the Reedy River, which creates beautiful cascading falls as it rushes through the center of the aptly named Falls Park. The downtown was built up around the famous river, encouraging residents to be active with its network of bridges connecting parks and walkways along the Reedy.

Complimenting the city’s healthy lifestyle vibe, Greenville County Schools Food and Nutrition Services Director Joe Urban wants to make sure the food served to students is fresh, healthy and innovative.  He considers it part of his job to introduce the students to different and exciting menu options by increasing the amount of quality seafood served to his students.

“I am a seafood loving school foodservice director that happens to also be an ambassador for the Seafood Nutrition Partnership,” said Urban. “So, I am naturally inclined to introduce as much high quality seafood as possible to our school menus – it is important to me because of the many health benefits associated with eating seafood.”

The district is currently in the process of developing a seafood solicitation for the upcoming 2017-18 school year. They plan to offer high quality seafood at least once a week in all 101 schools, giving the 76,000 students in Greenville County Schools yet another balanced and nutritious option. Some of the seafood options featured on the menu for the next school year include wahoo, salmon, mahi-mahi, Alaskan Pollock and rockfish.

“We believe this will be the highest quality and most diverse seafood menu offerings throughout the K-12 school foodservice industry,” said Urban. “Seafood is a low calorie, high protein, heart healthy food packed with beneficial Omega 3’s. Because of the many health benefits of seafood, current dietary guidelines from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the U.S. Department of Agriculture recommend that Americans increase their seafood intake to twice a week. By offering great seafood options at least once a week in all schools we will be doing our part to help our students meet these recommendations.”