The United Fresh Produce Association Foundation and Chiquita Brands International have joined forces with Chicago Public Schools (CPS) to provide 10 salad bars, as part of First Lady Michelle Obama's Let's Move Salad Bars to Schools initiative.
United Fresh, Chiquita and CPS announced the donation at a ceremony on Wednesday 9 February at Bernhard Moos Elementary School.
The salad bars further CPS' commitment to high nutrition standards, and are designed to provide a broader variety of healthy options to students, including a wider variety and larger serving sizes of fruits and vegetables, increased whole grains, and lower sodium.
Chiquita was the first produce company to commit multi-year financial support to the school salad bar initiative.
The announcement comes on the first anniversary of the Let’s Move! initiative to fight childhood obesity, when the First Lady joined representatives from CDC and USDA to help launch Let’s Move Salad Bars to Schools in November 2010.
The 10 salad bars in Chicago are part of an overall goal of expanding salad bars into 110 CPS schools by the end of 2011.
Chicago Public Schools serves approximately 410,000 students in more than 670 schools, representing the nation's third-largest school system.
