US food companies making healthier versions of its popular items that comply with USDA school nutrition standards so that they can be sold in school cafeterias

Nevin Barich

NEW YORK , June 12, 2014 (The New York Times Co.) – Given the current uproar over new federal rules aimed at getting schoolchildren to eat more healthfully, you might think fast food was an endangered species on the cafeteria line. But Domino’s is delivering a pizza it calls the Smart Slice to more than 3,000 lunchrooms in 38 states, up from 3 states in 2010. And one force driving those sales is the new rules themselves. These pies contain fewer of the worrisome ingredients found in regular pizzas. But they also give the students a hefty dose of marketing for the Domino’s brand, and many other companies are following the same path to the lunchroom.

An Unforeseen Twist

When the United States Department of Agriculture started raising nutrition standards for school food in 2012, many consumer advocates assumed that commercial fast foods and snacks would become a thing of the past in schools; few of those products met the new rules. But seeing an opportunity, Domino’s and other food giants have come up with versions of their regular fare that do.

Less of This

Compared with the standard Domino’s pizza, the Smart Slice has 1/3 less fat in the pepperoni, 1/3 less salt in the sauce, and cheese with just half the usual fat — all changes made to fit the new standards.

More of That

The rules also require that half the grains be whole grains, which generally provide more fiber and other nutrients than refined white flour. To achieve this, many food manufacturers are using a type of flour called white whole wheat, which looks, tastes and bakes more like white than whole wheat flour. Domino’s uses a brand called Ultragrain, made by the food giant ConAgra; it makes up 51 percent of the flour in the crusts.

Pop-Tarts, Too

Ultragrain is derived from a hard winter wheat called Snowmass, developed in 2009 by food scientists at Colorado State University, and the brand is showing up as an ingredient in an increasing variety of foods aimed at the school market, including Kellogg’s Pop-Tarts and Pepperidge Farm Goldfish. ConAgra also sells Ultragrain flour in stores for home cooking, and makes a version, called High Performance, that offers an added benefit to food manufacturers: It soaks up more water than ordinary flour, reducing ingredient costs.

Selling a Brand

Domino’s delivers its pizzas directly to schools, and its trucks, employees, insulated boxes and lunch-line placards help imprint the company’s red-and-blue logo on the brains of students. Indeed, in its marketing materials the company prepares school officials for the reaction: “Get ready to shout, ‘No running in the halls!’ as students line up — excited for Domino’s Smart Slice.”

From School to Shop

This raises the odds that when school gets out, students will head to a Domino’s shop, nutrition and consumer advocates warn. But the company says it has no plans to sell the Smart Slice in shops — just its regular fare, which pretty much looks the same to children.

As chip, cereal and snack manufacturers start selling retooled versions of their products to schools, the Public Health Advocacy Institute, a consumer group, has asked the Department of Agriculture to bar any branding of those products if they are not widely available outside schools. Chicago’s public schools already decline to serve reformulated products to their 400,000 students, saying the brands muddle efforts to teach better eating habits. A Domino’s spokesman said, “Some schools like the branding because brands drive sales,” but added that the company stands ready to drop its logo on request.

DRAWINGS

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