How to Fix School Lunch

Newsweek, August, 2005 by Peg Tyre and Sarah Staveley-O'carroll

CORRECTION APPENDED

For Jorge Collazo, executive chef for the New York City public schools, coming up with the perfect jerk sauce is yet another step toward making the 1.1 million schoolkids he serves healthier. In a little more than a year, he's introduced salad bars and replaced whole milk with skim. Beef patties are now served on whole-wheat buns. Until recently, "every piece of chicken the manufacturers sent us was either breaded or covered in a glaze," says Collazo. Brandishing the might of his $125 million annual food budget, he switched to plain cutlets and asked suppliers to come up with something healthy--and appealing--to put on top. Collazo tastes the latest offering. The jerk sauce isn't overly processed and doesn't have trans fats. "Too salty," he says with a...