Sharon Middle School students now get lunch on washable trays cleaned by environmentally friendly detergent.

The renovated school cafeteria strives for health in practice as well as menu, school district Food Service Director Carol Judd says.

Part of the $50.5 million school renovation and addition project, the cafeteria's expanded kitchen re-opened in mid-October after six weeks of serving salads and sandwiches prepared at the Heights Elementary School, Judd says.

Students now get served on heavy duty, food-safe trays that have replaced the former styrofoam ones, she says.

"It cuts back on the using (of) the styrofoam trays, so it's cost effective for the department. We put them right through the dish machine," Judd said during a recent tour of the cafeteria and kitchen.

"The premise of the school is to be a green school. We wanted to follow that through in the cafeteria and in the kitchen area. The initial cost of these was probably less than what we would pay for a year's supply of styrofoam. And we should get at least two, three years' use out of the tray."

And the detergent comes compacted, dissolving in the dishwasher, Judd said. The detergent previously came in plastic containers.

"All we're doing is we're throwing away this wrapping. That's the only garbage," she said.

The menu continues striving for the most "reimbursable meals," which Judd explained are "any meal that a student takes that has three of the five components."

"We try to get the kids to take all five, because that's a balanced meal," she said.

Such a meal includes milk, which comes in 8-ounce plastic containers; and fruit, which can include 4-ounce containers of 100 percent juice, she said.

"We'd rather see the kids take whole fruit. It's much better. But this is at least a way we encourage them to take it," Judd said.

Sharon may only offer 100 percent juices, she said.

"We can't do cranberry or lemonade because of it not being 100 percent juice, and the sugar content," Judd said.

The middle school does offer a fruit bar, "and the fruit has really come up in consumption," she said. Pre-made salads are available as well.

The school also offers a deli bar, although "we gear it toward low-sodium products, (and) we give no more than 2.5 ounces per serving, which keeps the sodium down," Judd said.

With classes resuming Tuesday, the deli bar will offer three types of deli chicken from Old Neighborhood Foods' Thin 'n Trim line, Judd said.

The kitchen's other offerings include pre-packaged hamburgers, cheeseburgers and spicy chicken patties, she said. A small bag of oven-baked fries is available, too; "potatoes are considered a vegetable," she said.

Pizza comes fresh from Sal's Pizza ("we have it come in on Tuesday, which means it was all made up on Monday," Judd said.). Sharon donates to Sal's low-sodium mozzarella cheese that USDA Foods donates to the school, she said. Sal's reduces the pizza's price for this reason, she said.

Students love pizza, Judd said.

"We taste tested the pizza. They liked this better than the ones that we had before," she said.

"I spend probably more than what other school districts do. But I do because if it gets the kids coming in and eating, then it just encourages the kids."