S C H O O L V E N D IN G
effect July 12, 2012. "None of these (products in the machine) are even close to exceeding the limits as far as fat and sugar content," he said. "It's all healthy vending as far as what we have in there. It's there to have access to snacks and to keep them going throughout the day." Albany, Calif. is one of many
school vending success stories that have emerged in the last several years. Since 2007, schools nationwide have discovered vend- ing machines are a good way to improve students' access to healthy food and beverages. A handful of vending equipment marketers have fi gured out ways
Maureen Pisanick, foodservice director at the Hudson, Ohio schools, has found vend- ing a good way to meet nutrition rules.
to interface the machines' internal reporting with cafeteria point of sale (POS) tracking software. Hence, the machines allow schools to integrate the vending sales with manual food line sales. This allows the schools to docu- ment the products and the number of students being served, thereby helping them comply with govern- ment funding requirements. "The vending machine is just another POS line," noted Sherry Ephraim, Midwest account rep
for Horizon International, which provides schools with POS cafeteria software. She said her company now advises schools they can interface vending machines with their cafete- ria food lines.
Vending authorizes meal eligibility Schools have been able to use state- of-the-art vending machines to authorize students who are eligible for government subsidized meals. In situations where students use prepaid payment methods, kids can get their meals by entering identifi - cation numbers and birth dates on a pin pad.
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