GDSN Provides Transparency and Traceability on the K-12 Lunch Plate

When you send your child off to school do you ever wonder what they are having for lunch? Do you ever wonder what products are being put on their plate and what options are being made available to them? How schools make purchasing decisions for food that will be prepared for the lunch menu? What nutrition and allergen content is included in that meal? Well, that is what Nourish to Flourish (N2F) is all about! 

N2F in partnership with 1WorldSync is addressing these questions for the safety of your children.

What is N2F?

The N2F Data Sharing & Analytics Initiative is assisting K-12 schools by providing prototype Menu Planning and Production Records software integrated with standardized product content using the Global Data Synchronization Network (GDSN).  

The software includes the GTIN (Global Trade Item Number), enabling menu planners to filter items by different criteria and then quickly import the required nutritional and meal pattern credit information individually for each product to correctly evaluate a menu for compliance.  Developed by inTEAM with a focus on K-12 menu planning and foodservice workflow, N2F is looking to revolutionize this $9 Billion industry. 

Chip Goodman, inTEAM CEO, states that “Each supplier is publishing mission-critical data in real-time to a single N2F data warehouse called CNDataSync.  Access to this technology is going to empower schools to markedly improve their students’ meal experiences.”

Why should a K-12 supplier participate?

There are a number of reasons to participate in this critical initiative such as:

• Schools need brand owner verified content through CNDataSync’s school portal for recipe development, menu planning, delivery and monitoring with key performance indicators and other operational metrics that provide insights into how their schools are performing compared to peer schools.   
• Suppliers use CNDataSync’s supplier portal for gaining insight into how their products are performing within schools and may generate their own custom reports using off the shelf analytics tools.

This innovative software will generate “win-win” data analytics for everyone across the school food ecosystem. 

“School menu planners will be able to filter items by different criteria and then quickly import the required nutritional and meal pattern credit information individually for each product directly from manufacturers into menus. With the product content being sent to Nourish to Flourish via GDSN, this will greatly simplify the effort to build recipes and menus as well as report and track all menu data in real-time for audit purposes.”  Michael Clark, SNS, Food Service Director, Crane AZ School District

Ready to Participate?

• Review the N2F Content Requirement Guide.  These attributes are the desired attributes requested by N2F but accepting publications with items “as is” for now
• If you haven’t already, fill out the N2F Trading Partner Form
• Publish your K-12 GDSN item content to the N2F Production GLN 0860206001702

Learn more about the parties involved for this initiative

• Nourish to Flourish is the home for all stakeholders to learn more about its mission to “scale up excellence in school meals,” stay current and become engaged with the initiatives. 
• inTEAM was selected as the technology provider for the national N2F Data Sharing & Analytics Initiative for K-12 Schools.  Founded in 1994, inTEAM has pioneered the development of a comprehensive set of technology tools to leverage and re-purpose basic menu planning data to drive many other mission-critical applications. 
• 1WorldSync – the leading provider of product content solutions, enabling more than 13,000 companies globally to share brand-verified product content.

For further questions about this very important initiative please reach out to N2F via geri@e-inteam.com or reach out to 1WorldSync via businessdevelopment@1worldsync.com.