Missoula school kids can dip their bread sticks in marinara with confidence because the sauce is local, and the school district's efforts to serve locally grown food in school cafeterias has some other school districts hungry for more information.

The Missoula County Public School system is using as much locally grown produce in school lunches as possible, and after partnering with Montana Food Products in Lolo, they're creating the good stuff.

The Farm to School program is keeping locally grown healthy food on the lunch trays more than every before while also helping local growers and keeping school kids fortified.

There are tomatoes and basil from Pablo, onions and garlic from Frenchtown, apples from the Bitterroot and the success of this program  is putting MCPS in the spotlight. A crew is in town this week to learn more about it for a training video to show other schools in the country using local produce is possible.

While it sounds expensive, good negotiating with local growers are keeping the healthier lunches from having a heftier price tag. Missoula schools now have the tools and the ingredients to make your typical school lunch more like restaurant cuisine to satisfy any pallet.

The training video should be done in February and in the near future, school kids will get to feast on fresh meat when a new processing plant opens in Laurel.