Healthier Cereals Snare a Spot on New York School Menus -<br />By STEPHANIE STROMMARCH 1, 2017<br />The New York City public school system has quietly replaced breakfast cereals made by the Kellogg Company, the titan<br />whose name is virtually synonymous with cereal, with those from a small California upstart called Back to the Roots.<br />But instead of replacing them with other Kellogg cereals, the schools opted to buy Back to the Roots cereals because of their better nutritional profile<br />and organic ingredients, said Eric Goldstein, the chief executive of the Office of School Support Services, which oversees food operations of the city’s Department of Education.<br />“It’s not anywhere near perfect,” she said, “but this is a journey toward providing healthier meals that kids will like.”<br />Mr. Goldstein said New York City spends 90 cents to $1 on food for each school breakfast,<br />and has a hard time finding suppliers who can deliver products to fit that budget and at the volume needed.<br />The school district pays a little more for Back to the Roots cereals, but Mr. Goldstein said<br />that is more than offset by their popularity among students, their organic ingredients and their lower sugar content.<br />“In the world we live in, though, there are so many constraints, so being able<br />to offer Back to the Roots cereals for us is like a breath of fresh air.”<br />Public schools are under enormous pressure to contain costs and provide foods<br />that children will actually eat, factors that make it harder to offer higher-quality foods.
