TURNER — Dave Roberts, food service director for Turner, Greene and Leeds schools, is hearing the same question a lot these days.

How did he make a hot lunch program that’s affordable and healthy, lunches that students actually eat?

On Oct. 15, Turner, Leeds and Greene elementary schools were the first in Maine to win the U.S. Department of Agriculture awards in the Healthier U.S. Schools Challenge. Part of the criteria for winning is the hot lunch has to offer healthy food and have high participation, which his schools have.

About 70 percent of elementary students in the three towns take hot lunch. At Leavitt Area High School, hot lunch participation is 51.7 percent, up from 6 percent in 2004.

Roberts and his food team have achieved healthy meals most students buy in a variety of ways.

During the last two years they began changing menu ingredients in all schools, incorporating more whole grain bread, pasta and crackers. They added more beans and cut fatty meats. They cut back on canned fruits and vegetables and added more fresh or frozen foods. Salads include Romaine lettuce. Applesauce is unsweetened.

Students were introduced to some new foods, like brown rice and chicken stir fry. But the food students crave — pizza, chicken nuggets, fries and chocolate milk — are still served.

The difference is pizza crust and nugget breading is made with whole wheat. Fries are baked, sometimes made with sweet potatoes. Fatty pepperoni has mostly been taken off the pizza.

The program’s success depends on students buying lunches, Roberts said. “We can’t throw caution to the wind and introduce back-to-the-Earth menu and throw our meal counts off.”

Much of the healthier food is more expensive, 10 to 15 percent more, Roberts said. Despite the costs, “we were just determined that we’re going to do it.” More students buying lunches helped offset costs, he said.

When the schools first introduced more fruits and vegetables, some students stopped buying lunch, Roberts said. “Eventually we regained our meal counts, then exceeded them.”

Before long they got a pleasant surprise. After continually offering fresh vegetables, kids started eating more, Roberts said with a smile.

That was confirmed by Turner Elementary fifth-grader MacKenzie Treadwell.

“Some teachers were surprised to see how many kids were eating fruits and vegetables,” Treadwell said from the stage of the Oct. 15 awards assembly. “Our school lunch has changed a lot. We used to have potato chips and cookies almost every day. Now we have them very rarely.”

Recently students learned about eating vegetables “the color of the rainbow,” Treadwell said. Her school does a good job with that, she said, promoting hot lunches. “If you want to be healthier, ask your parents if you can have hot lunch instead of bringing cold from home.”

Marketing is important in improving participation, which improves the program’s affordability and food, Roberts said.

After improvements were made to meals, “you’ve got to be an ambassador for your program,” he said. He shared changes in the meals with students, parents, teachers and administrators.

He went to meetings to talk about the better lunches. He pointed out improvements on menus sent home. He wrote letters to parents and empowered his food service employees to get excited about better, healthier lunches.

“I had my managers start going to open house to interact with parents,” something that was never done.

Finally, he applied for the Healthier U.S. Schools Challenge last year to get an objective seal of approval.

The Healthier U.S. Schools Challenge banners now hang in the four elementary schools.

The meals are better but not perfect, Roberts said, adding he has more work to do.

After making more changes to the middle and high school menus this year, Roberts plans to apply for the U.S.D.A. awards for those schools next year.

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