Milwaukee County UW-Extension participates in the Wisconsin Nutrition Education Program. WNEP helps limited resource families and individuals choose healthful diets, purchase and prepare healthful food and handle it safely, and become more food secure by spending their food dollars wisely.

For more information about WNEP programs, download our flyer in English and Spanish
( 2 pages, 108 KB).

Tips of the Season

Halloween Food Safety Tips for Parents

Take these simple steps to help your children have a fun – and safe – Halloween:

Children shouldn’t snack while they’re out trick-or-treating. Urge your children to wait until they get home and you have had a chance to inspect the contents of their “goody bags.”
To help prevent children from snacking, give them a light meal or snack before they head out – don’t send them out on an empty stomach.
Tell children not to accept – and especially not to eat – anything that isn’t commercially wrapped.
Parents of very young children should remove any choking hazards such as gum, peanuts, hard candies or small toys.
Inspect commercially wrapped treats for signs of tampering, such as an unusual appearance or discoloration, tiny pinholes, or tears in wrappers. Throw away anything that looks suspicious.

And follow these tips for Halloween parties at home:

If juice or cider is served to children at Halloween parties, make sure it is pasteurized or otherwise treated to destroy harmful bacteria. Juice or cider that has not been treated will say so on the label.
No matter how tempting, don't taste raw cookie dough or cake batter.
Before going "bobbing for apples," an all-time favorite Halloween game, reduce the number of bacteria that might be present on apples and other raw fruits and vegetables by thoroughly rinsing them under cool running water. As an added precaution, use a produce brush to remove surface dirt.
"Scare" bacteria away by keeping all perishable foods chilled until serving time. These include, for example, finger sandwiches, cheese platters, fruit or tossed salads, cold pasta dishes with meat, poultry, or seafood, and cream pies or cakes with whipped-cream and cream-cheese frostings. Cold temperatures help keep most harmful bacteria from multiplying. And don't leave the food at room temperature for more than two-hours.

Breakfast: Give Your Child a Healthy Start!

Mornings can be rushed, but it is important to make time for breakfast.

Children can benefit from the School Breakfast Program! Studies show that school breakfast can improve test scores, make kids more alert in class, and improve classroom behavior. Make sure your kids start the school day with a healthy meal.

Every year, your family receives a Free and Reduced Price Meal Application. It is important to fill out this form and return it to school for three reasons:

1. The application lets us know if your child is eligible for free or reduced price school meals. Children from families that earn below a certain income level can receive free or reduced price lunch and breakfast at school.

2. Applications are used to match funding our school receives for resources for students such as books and classroom furniture.

3. MPS schools may qualify for free breakfast program if 95% of student meal applications are submitted. You do not need to be eligible for free or reduced lunch to fill out the application.

The application is easy to fill out and easy to understand. (See link below) Also, you do not have to worry about your information being shared with others because application information is CONFIDENTIAL.

Support the School Breakfast Program today by completing your application! If you have any questions, feel free to contact your school’s front office.

Where can I get an application?

An application was included with your child(s) school calendar mailing. Additional applications are also available in each school's office or at Central Services Lunch Application Office, Room 3. You may also apply online.

Fun Breakfast Brochures:

Be an All Star game ( 1 page, 1,426 KB)
Power Up with Breakfast brochure ( 2 pages, 500 KB)

Applying for free, reduced-price meals benefits schools and families

Number of returned applications affects many types of school funding

Milwaukee, Wis. - Inundated with school-related forms to sign and complete? One important form that parents often overlook is the application for free and reduced-priced school meals.

“Many people assume that these forms are only for limited income families, but it is important for all parents to fill them out,” says Rosamaria Martinez, Wisconsin Nutrition Education Program Administrator with the Milwaukee County University of Wisconsin-Cooperative Extension.

The benefits of returned meal application forms go beyond helping students get a good meal--they also affect the school district’s funding, according to Aimee Dunn, Wisconsin Nutrition Education Program coordinator with the UW-Extension.

School districts rely on returned applications showing how many students are entitled to free and reduced-price meals for important financial support. For example:

--The Title 1 program, which helps students improve academic performance, provides financial assistance to schools with a high percentage of students eligible for free and reduced-price meals.

--The E-rate program offers discounts on telecommunication services needed for technology in the classroom based on the number of meal applications.

--Grant money that improves school nutrition programs is often awarded based on the number of students who are eligible for free and reduced-price meals.

If you haven’t completed an application yet—don’t worry. There is still time, according to Jessica Sharkus, assistant director of School Nutrition at the Department of Public Instruction.

“Households may apply at any time during the school year--even if an earlier application was denied--by contacting the school. If a household needs to report any changes to their original application, a new application is not required. Changes in a household’s size or income may increase the level of benefits for school meals,” explains Sharkus.

“It is in the best interest of the families, regardless of household income, to fill out the school meal applications and to return it to the school as soon as possible. Families and schools alike benefit from completed, returned forms,” says Martinez, Wisconsin Nutrition Education Program Administrator with the Milwaukee County University of Wisconsin-Cooperative Extension.

For information about school breakfast, a free or reduced-price meal program in Milwaukee County, contact Rosamaria Martinez, 414-256-4680, rosamaria.martinez@ces.uwex.edu. The Wisconsin School Breakfast website at http://www.uwex.edu/ces/flp/food/schoolbreakfast/ features information about the benefits of breakfast and school breakfast programs.

The Department of Public Instruction’s Wisconsin Child Nutrition Programs and On-line Services website http://www.dpi.wi.gov/fns/index.html contains more information about community and school nutrition programs.

What's in Season...
It's Harvest Time

Would you like to enjoy bright, crisp garden vegetables all year long?

Freezing fruits and vegetables can be an easy way to enjoy the bounty of your garden all year round.

Compared with other preservation methods, freezing saves time and nutrients, and keeps fruits and vegetables fresh-tasting and colorful. They are also easy to use in many family meals.

Late summer and early autumn finds some gardens and farmers markets overflowing with locally grown vegetables ready for freezing or canning.

When those big, plump tomatoes turn from pink to red, it’s time to think about preserving their goodness for year-round use.

To learn how to freeze and safely preserve your vegetables, see Wisconsin Safe Food Preservation Series publications, available at: http://learningstore.uwex.edu/Food-Preservation-and-Safety-C60.aspx

Tomatoes are the most widely home preserved product in the United States. Green beans are high on the list also. (Follow the links for tomato and green bean recipes.)

Kathryn Cieszki, Milwaukee County Cooperative Extension Nutrition Educator and Master Food Preserver, is available to answer questions regarding you food preservation needs at: kathryn.cieszki@ces.uwex.edu.

Information on selecting and preparing vegetables:

Green Beans ( 1 page, 315 KB)
Tomatoes ( 1 page, 289 KB)

Teens lag in important nutrition knowledge, study finds:
Should nutrition be added to school curriculum?

Milwaukee, Wis. - A recent study from the University of Minnesota revealed that teens and their parents have significant gaps in their knowledge of food and how it provides energy to the body. The study also showed that knowledge about energy intake does not always result in better eating behaviors.

“Parents’ scores in this study were generally fair, but teens’ scores showed a relatively poor understanding of many important nutrition concepts,” says Susan Nitzke, a nutrition specialist with the University of Wisconsin-Extension.

Researchers administered true-false surveys to 349 adolescents and their parents. The results showed that teens’ knowledge was lower than their parents’ for every item in the survey with average scores of 50 percent for teens and 71 percent for parents.

Only nine percent of the teens and 24 percent of parents knew that one gram of carbohydrates does not contain more calories than one gram of protein (both have four calories per gram). And only 29 percent of teens and 47 percent of parents knew that one gram of carbohydrate does not contain more calories than one gram of fat (carbs have four calories per gram and fats have nine calories per gram).

“This study raises red flags for educators and policy makers,” says Mallory Koenings, a University of Wisconsin-Madison graduate student who works with Nitzke to improve teen nutrition. “Many teens do not have enough nutrition knowledge to use some of the nutrition information on food labels. And the information teens have learned does not always result in good food choices.” For example, the teens with better nutrition scores in this study did not make better choices than other teens when it came to sweetened beverages and fast food.

Nitzke concludes that there is an urgent need to include nutrition lessons in the curriculum for every grade from pre-kindergarten through high school.

“These days, with all the confusing messages from food ads and the Internet, nutrition education is more important than ever,” says Nitzke. She recommends that educators plan lessons that help students learn nutrition facts and also take the important step of helping them learn ways to apply the information in their everyday lives.

To learn more about nutrition education at your school, contact Rosamaria Martinez, Milwaukee County Cooperative Extension Nutrition Education Program Administrator at: rosamaria.martinez@ces.uwex.edu or visit http://www.MyPyramid.gov.

WNEP Programming Includes:

Youth
In partnership with Milwaukee Public Schools, WNEP provides lessons on choosing healthier snacks, food safety, and eating a variety of healthy foods each day for students in over 50 schools.

Seniors
In partnership with the Milwaukee County Department on Aging and other local senior centers, WNEP provides nutrition education for older adults on eating foods with less fat, increasing intake of fruits and vegetables, tips on menu planning, and shopping for one or two.

Adults with Disabilities
In partnership with Transitional Living Services, WNEP provides nutrition education to adults with special needs. Materials are developed to convey topics in an understandable way. Topics taught are choosing foods with less fat, shopping, increasing fruits and vegetables, preparing low fat healthy meals, food safety, and proper sanitation.

And Many More!
WNEP works with many other community partners like MPS and SDC Head Start, Childrens Outing Association, Milwaukee County WIC, Second Harvest, Hunger Task Force, and Milwaukee County Corrections providing nutrition lessons on topics such as feeding young children, healthier snacking, purchasing nutritious foods, preparing foods in healthier ways, and eating a variety of nutritious foods every day.

Federal Support

Federal Support
WNEP programming is supported by the USDA, FoodShare Wisconsin, UW-Extension, and local partners.
Read more about our federal funders

Improving the Community Through Better Nutrition