Today is the first school day of the 2012 National School Lunch Week, commemorating more than 60 years of school meals. This is a great chance to celebrate meals that provide nutritious foods and beverages to school kids, many of whom are at risk of going hungry, and the people who prepare those meals. As part of National School Lunch Week, the School Nutrition Association (SNA), the association of school food service professionals, has designated Wednesday, October 17 as “Take Your Parents to Lunch Day.”  This day is meant to encourage parents to eat school lunch with their kids. This gives parents an opportunity to see the variety of healthy foods that are offered as part of the meals, and experience the cafeteria environment. With the attention that updated school meals have been getting, this is a chance to show the good things that happen in school meals, including the healthy dairy products that are part of lunch. So this is a great week to thank school food directors and staff for the hard work they do to serve healthy meals and to share with your customers what you do to help make school meals a healthy option!