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Supply chain woes land on school lunch trays

From canned corn to chicken patties, Montana public schools are struggling with a food supply shortage. And the labor woes behind it are causing trouble in school kitchens, too.

Tammy Wham can't get her hands on canned corn or whole grain muffins. Both are staples in the public school kitchen in Ennis, where Wham serves as kitchen manager - or, she quips, "head lunch lady." Wham and her staff serve breakfast and lunch to roughly 340 K-12 students daily, but numerous menu items and ingredients have become difficult or impossible to acquire this fall due to national food shortages and supply chain complications.

"I've been here since 2001," said Wham, who also serves as president of the Montana School Nutrition Association. "This is like the hardest school year I've...

 
 
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