To meet the Healthy Nutrition Guidelines for Meetings and Events, choose foods and beverages that meet at least the Healthy standard. We encourage agencies to work to meeting the Healthier and Healthiest standards.
Healthy
- Provide food and beverage options that are appropriate for the attendees' dietary and cultural food needs.
- Provide water at breaks and meals—preferably tap water.
- Provide low and no calorie beverage options when you serve beverages other than water.
- Serve fruit or vegetables for all light refreshments and meals.
- Choose foods that are low in fat—especially saturated and trans fats.
Healthier
- Meet the Healthy standard.
- When you serve grains, make sure that whole grain rich options are available.
- When you serve dairy, make sure that low-fat or non-fat dairy options are available.
- When you serve proteins, make sure that lean meat and low-fat, non-meat protein options are available.
- Provide healthy portion sizes. For example, serve small or half bagels, 3–5 ounce servings of meat, and cakes and brownies in small serving sizes (2” square or smaller).
Healthiest
- Meet the Healthier standard.
- Provide at least one lower sodium option.
- Lower sodium is no more than 360mg of sodium or less per snack item, 480mg of sodium or less per individual food item as served, or 900mg of sodium or less per meal.
- Find out how to reduce sodium in meetings and events.
- Serve Washington grown foods when possible.
- Ask your caterer about providing local foods.
- Purchase foods from local farmers market.