Nevada schools to receive salad bars

The United Fresh Foundation’s campaign for A Salad Bar in Every School will donate salad bars to two schools in Pahrump, Nevada, this week via a new partnership with The Vollrath Company and Cambro Manufacturing Company.

The salad bars will be donated tomorrow (Wednesday 21 April) to Nye County School District’s J.G. Johnson Elementary School and Manse Elementary School during a ceremony at United Fresh 2010, the association’s annual convention and expo.

Launched in February 2010 by the United Fresh Research & Education Foundation, the Salad Bar in Every School campaign is a philanthropic produce industry initiative to donate salad bars to schools to increase children’s fruit and vegetable consumption.

“Research shows that children significantly increase their consumption of fruits and vegetables when their school has a fruit and vegetable salad bar,” explained Dr Lorelei DiSogra, United Fresh vice-president of Nutrition and Health.

United Fresh president and CEO Tom Stenzel believes it is important that students have increased access to fresh and healthy fruits and vegetables.

“United Fresh has a long track record of success increasing the availability of fresh fruits and vegetables for children,” said Mr Stenzel.

“Alongside the US$1bn federal commitment to national expansion of the Fresh Fruit and Vegetable School Snack Program and the launch of more than US$750m annually in fruit and vegetable vouchers for moms and children in the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC), the Salad Bar in Every School campaign truly has the produce industry poised to make a difference.”

The campaign selected Nye County School District to receive the salad bars because of the district’s commitment to improving child nutrition and increasing children’s consumption of fresh fruits and vegetables.

“Nye County has wanted salad bars for their school cafeterias for several years,” said Dr DiSogra. “They feel strongly that salad bars will offer their students a wide variety of fruits and vegetables with their lunch and will increase consumption.”

Both J.G. Johnson Elementary and Manse Elementary serve more than 450 K-5 students.

Both schools also participate in the Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Snack Program, which provides a fresh fruit or vegetable snack to all students for free every day at school.