ConAgra seeks school lunch edge with healthier pizza quesadilla

ConAgra Foods Inc. is testing a pizza dish for schools made without partially hydrogenated oil and may expand the product nationally in response to demand for healthier student lunches, according to a company executive.

The company sold its Max Whole Grain Pizza Quesadilla to a U.S. school district and will sell it to more by year’s end, said Chris Meinerding, ConAgra’s school food-service marketing director. She declined to identify the district.

Partially hydrogenated oil contains trans fat, which has been implicated in heart disease, according to the American Heart Association.

ConAgra, also the maker of Egg Beaters and Healthy Choice frozen dinners, is addressing calls for more whole grains and no trans fats in the 31 million lunches served daily on average at public schools. Industrywide sales of food sold to U.S. schools will rise this year, while the recession cuts revenue in other areas of food service, according to Technomic Inc.

“Even when the economy is struggling, there are always going to be pockets of opportunity,” said Darren Tristano, a research analyst for Technomic, a Chicago-based restaurant consulting firm. “This is an area that will likely lead to a greater opportunity for suppliers.”

ConAgra’s food-service sales to schools are more than $100 million annually, and Max is the biggest brand in that unit, said Teresa Paulsen, a spokeswoman at the Omaha-based company. Total revenue rose 10 percent to $12.7 billion in the fiscal year through May, according to a company filing.

In addition to the pizza quesadillas, ConAgra is developing other school lunch products that reduce or eliminate certain ingredients deemed less healthy, Paulsen said.

U.S. sales of food and nonalcoholic beverages served outside the home will fall 2.6 percent in 2009 after rising less than 1 percent last year, according to Technomic. The drop is driven by a decline in dining at restaurants and bars, which account for two-thirds of the total.

Sales to primary and secondary schools will increase 3 percent after jumping 4.5 percent in 2008, according to Technomic, as rising unemployment pushes more kids into federal free and reduced-price lunch programs.

The average daily participation in the National School Lunch Program will rise to 32.1 million students in fiscal 2010, from about 31 million this year, according to the Agriculture Department.

During the past five years, ConAgra has added whole grains to almost two-thirds of the pizza and handheld food, such as breadsticks, it sells to schools, Paulsen said. The company also cut salt and fat content, she said.

ConAgra’s new pizza quesadilla has no trans fat, compared with a half-gram in the original version of the product. It’s filled with mozzarella and substitute cheese made of soybean oil and milk protein, and a salsa-style sauce.

« Money

Share