Phone: 252-946-2012

Email:

Degrees and Certifications:

BSc Catering Administration School Nutrition Specialist

Mrs. Joanne Kirven, SNS

I was born, raised and educated in England. I earned my BSc in Catering Administration from Bournemouth University. Business and Industry Foodservice was my first career, serving in the City of London and the London suburbs before relocating to Pennsylvania with my husband's job in 1993. I joined School Nutrition in 2007 after taking a career hiatus when my two children were young. I have worked in Charlotte Mecklenburg, Gaston and now Beaufort Counties. 

School Nutrition

  • The School Nutrition is a non-profit organization that operates 13 cafeterias within Beaufort County Schools. We use USDA to maximize our purchasing power as well as using DoD for our locally procured fresh fruits and vegetables. We are a part of the North Carolina Purchasing Alliance for School Nutrition which enables us to purchase with much more competitive power.  School Nutrition also assists special programs, such as After School Enrichment Program, with daily snacks for their After School Care Program for children.  In conjunction with providing healthy, nutritious meals at a reasonable cost, we provide nutrition education for students as we seek to introduce our students to healthier choices during meal time for a better way of life. Six of our schools qualify for a grant called the Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program which enables us to introduce some different produce to the students.

    School Nutrition is a self-supporting federal reimbursement program.  This means that we are reimbursed for every meal we serve to students.  We also offer a la carte items in our schools for purchase.  Any profit made is reinvested in our program to provide higher quality food at lower costs, on-going training for our staff, and to improve our equipment and facilities.

    We operate a National School Lunch Program and the National School Breakfast Program in all of our schools under a $4.2 million budget.  Our cafeterias serve over 6,000 meals per day - approximately 2,000 breakfasts and 4,000 lunches.  To accomplish our mission of feeding the students of Beaufort County Schools a nutritious meal, we employ approximately 65 people.

    Our menus are developed by a committee of Beaufort County School cafeteria managers with guidance from our own nutritionist.  While our goal is to provide students appealing meals, we also must abide by all federal, state, and local regulations regarding not only our menus, but our overall program.  This includes accommodating students with special dietary needs in our breakfast and lunch programs.

    Our School Nutrition office staff is composed of a Director, Area Supervisor, Administrative Assistant, Bookkeeper and Warehouse Manager/Equipment Specialist.

Resources

  • Food Recalls
    Food and Nutrition System Regulations
    United States Department of Agriculture

    To get free materials, read about Team Nutrition success stories or find out what is going on in our state, visit the USDA.

    HACCP

    Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP) is a systematic preventive approach to food safety that addresses physical, chemical and biological hazards as a means of prevention rather than finished product inspection. HACCP is used in the food industry to identify potential food safety hazards, so that key actions, known as Critical Control Points (CCPs) can be taken to reduce or eliminate the risk of the hazards being realized.

  • In accordance with federal civil rights law and U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) civil rights regulations and policies, this institution is prohibited from discriminating on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex (including gender identity and sexual orientation), disability, age, or reprisal or retaliation for prior civil rights activity.

    Program information may be made available in languages other than English. Persons with disabilities who require alternative means of communication to obtain program information (e.g., Braille, large print, audiotape, American Sign Language), should contact the responsible state or local agency that administers the program or USDA’s TARGET Center at (202) 720-2600 (voice and TTY) or contact USDA through the Federal Relay Service at (800) 877-8339.

    To file a program discrimination complaint, a Complainant should complete a Form AD-3027, USDA Program Discrimination Complaint Form which can be obtained online at: https://www.usda.gov/sites/default/files/documents/USDA-OASCR%20P-Complaint-Form-0508-0002-508-11-28-17Fax2Mail.pdf, from any USDA office, by calling (866) 632-9992, or by writing a letter addressed to USDA. The letter must contain the complainant’s name, address, telephone number, and a written description of the alleged discriminatory action in sufficient detail to inform the Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights (ASCR) about the nature and date of an alleged civil rights violation. The completed AD-3027 form or letter must be submitted to USDA by:

       1.  mail:
            U.S. Department of Agriculture
            Office of the Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights
            1400 Independence Avenue, SW
            Washington, D.C. 20250-9410;

      2.  fax:
           (833) 256-1665 or (202) 690-7442; or

      3.  email: program.intake@usda.gov

    This institution is an equal opportunity provider.