Webster Food Services named #1 in the state for best practices

by MATT HUGHES

J-E News Editor

Webster County Food Services was honored on Tuesday by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) for having the ‘#1 Best Practices’ in the state of Kentucky.

In the 21 years that the USDA has been presenting the award to school districts, Webster County is the first district from Kentucky to be nominated for the award.

“That’s just fantastic,” said former district Food Services Director Shane Bosaw, who took over the same position in Union County this school year. “We put in a lot of 50-60 hour days trying to get this program back on track.”

The award recognizes several accomplishments of the district, including renovations efforts at the WC Annex (which serves WCHS, WCMS and Dixon Elementary) and management of district commodities.

“Webster County was one of the first districts in the state to be certified for new USDA guidelines,” said Sean Monahan with the south east district of USDA. “They employ systems to manage their USDA foods that are now being used to assist new food service directors statewide on the management of commodities. That system has been a major cost saving program for the district.”

Another project that Bosaw credits for helping Webster County win the award was putting the freezer unit from Slaughters Elementary to use.

“It was the largest freezer in the district,” said Bosaw. “We relocated it and turned it into a distribution freezer for the district.”

That change has allowed the district to ship certain goods to one central location in bulk rather than paying to ship to each individual school. They can then be transferred to each cafeteria as needed.

Bosaw said they currently have no idea who nominated the district for the award.

Reach MATT HUGHES at 270-667-2068 or matt@journalenterprise.com