Meridian School’s Food Services Department has more than doubled local food purchases this year, thanks to a partnership through the Texas Dept. of Agriculture with the Sustainable Food Center and Common Market. What is local? For Meridian, that means any Texas products.
Local products (to name a few) include honey from Houston, cheese from Waco, bread, buns, and tortillas grown from wheat in Texas/Oklahoma, olive oil from Madisonville, and lettuce from Belton.
Last year (2020-2021), $21,216 went directly to local farmers and suppliers. After the launch of this new partnership, in the first semester of 2021-2022, the school has already surpassed it by $400!
Providing quality, locally-sourced meals has always been a priority at Meridian, and this new partnership (along with choosing compostable tableware and composting food waste) allows the school to continue to work towards a more sustainable program!
Want to know what we buy local? Here's a partial list ...
- Milk: Oak Farms Dairy, milk is from dairies across Texas and can include those from Oklahoma as well. The milk is pasteurized, processed and shipped from San Antonio.
- Bread, Buns, Tortillas: Kurz and Co. (wheat is grown in Texas and Oklahoma, milled and processed in Texas, bread created in San Antonio and Houston)
- Fruits and Vegetables: grown from small local farms across Texas
- Cheese: created with local milk, processed and shipped from Waco
- Honey: created by bees from South Houston area and processed in Pearland
- Beef: cattle raised and processed from Yoakum
- Olive Oil: Olives grown, pressed, processed from Madisonville
- Chicken and Turkey: Gonzales and Seguin, Tyson Foods
- Tofu: soy beans grown across Texas and processed in Houston
- Lettuce: True Harvest Farms from Belton