It's no secret children won't eat their salads, they want their broccoli doused in cheese and they refuse anything that isn't fried, dumped in grease or salted.

Now try to feed more than 100 testy tots salads, yoghourt and granola without it ending up in the trash.

That's the daunting task faced by food service providers in the public schools. They are trying to implement a contact to introduce healthier foods on the schools' menus.

The contract requires, among other things, for the chefs to only offer one fried food item a week, and must be signed by all schools by the end of September.

But there is hope on the horizon in the form of Sistah Sauté, aka Cheryl Kerr, who offered healthy tips and a demonstration to several food service providers on Friday.

It was an initiative between the Health Schools Coordinator Marie Beach and the Public Health Nutritionists Mellonie Furbert and Cymone Hollis to try and help the providers reform their cooking habits.

Sistah Sauté's menu included a layered raw salad, rice and peas, lentil burgers, oven-fried herbed chicken a dessert of yoghourt, granola and peaches.

The four-hour demonstration was received with mixed response as the service providers worried about the bottom line and being able to find the produce they needed.

Sara Masters, owner of Flying Chef, said she was already trying to incorporate many of the healthy alternatives, but definitely got some tips from the presentation today.

"She's got some nice techniques we will try them — definitely the dessert," she said. "We will try using the brown rice because it turned out well.

"We are trying to institute what they want. If the children had their way they would eat chicken nuggets every day and the older children go across the way for a bag of chips and soda."

But soon, the schools and their providers will have to follow the guidelines offered in the contracts that were created through the work of Environmental Health, Nutrition Services and Healthy School.

Ms Beach, the Healthy Schools Coordinator, said she understands the concerns raised by the providers, which is why they offered the demonstration on Friday.

She said: "The Healthy Schools Nutrition Policy does give providers standards and the Government notices give examples.

"If we cannot serve this, what can we serve? One fried food item a week. Keep them at a bare minimum. Sandys Middle School, for example, has a no fried food policy.

"We try to approach them with a healthy menu and we are trying to restrict and reform these a requirements they have.

"They still have to comply with the healthy initiative. It's up to the school to decide (which provider to use)."

She added: "We are giving them until the end of September."

Ms Beach said she has also tried to meet with physical education teachers, food and nutrition teachers and the food service providers to get a holistic vision of the problem.

She has even worked with the schools to install Health Champions, who will be able to see what's going on in the school and what is being served at lunches.

In addition to signing contracts that they will provide healthy foods, food service providers must submit a copy of their Fundamentals of Food Safety certificates and must have a licence to serve food.

Ms Beach added: "Some are not licensed and that's my job ... to make sure they are licensed."