Services officials 'refresh' dining menus

By Air Force News on August 31, 2011

Airmen will soon have more variety and availability of nutritious meals thanks to a new initiative to 'refresh' dining facility menus.

Air Force Services Agency officials here partnered with industry chefs to implement a new program called "Operation Refresh."

The program infuses new items into dining facility menus on a regular basis, incorporates additional fresh ingredients and improves methods for preparing existing entrees, officials said. Additionally, it will improve culinary skills for Air Force food service professionals through new cooking techniques.

After a recent review with a food evaluation team and previous quality of life surveys, it was determined current menus were outdated and needed to be revitalized, said Bill Spencer, the AFSVA appropriated-fund food operations branch chief.

"Operation Refresh allows us to better serve our customers by adding fresh, new choices to the core menus for all (appropriated fund) dining facilities," he said. "Starting in September, a new menu item will be added each month. The first menu item available will be a pork chop with warm pineapple Asian glaze sauce."

Currently, there are approximately 276 Air Force dining facilities serving approximately 93 million meals annually.

For more information about Operation Refresh, call a local Air Force dining facility. To learn about Air Force food service operations and other quality-of-life programs, visit www.usafservices.com or www.myairforcelife.com.