United Fresh past board member Phil Muir, president and CEO of Muir Copper Canyon Farms, has told a hearing of the Senate Agriculture Committee that he is pledging support and cooperation to schools as they look to serve more fresh fruits and vegetables in meals.
Muir told lawmakers that his company provides fresh fruits and vegetables to 52 school districts in Utah, Idaho and Wyoming, serving a total of 450,000 students, and that he is finding schools are doing a great job of boosting fruit and vegetable consumption in their meal programmes.
“The produce industry is committed and stands ready to support school food service directors in successfully implementing the new fruit and vegetable requirements,” said Muir in his Senate testimony. “There are produce suppliers all over the country who are just as passionate and committed to supporting schools as I am. We all want to provide schools with great quality fresh produce and help student’s increase their consumption.”
Congress will be reauthorising child nutrition programs in 2015. The Senate hearing explored how schools are meeting healthier nutrition standards as required by the Healthy Hunger Free Kids Act of 2010. In his testimony, Muir illustrated how schools are successfully serving more fresh fruits and vegetables.
“Schools that were proactive in improving the healthfulness of school meals early on, made incremental changes, and offered nutrition education are not having problems or experiencing increased plate waste” said Muir. “The Dietary Guidelines for Americans calls for children and adults to “make half their plate fruits and vegetables” at every meal. How can you call school breakfast or school lunch a ‘meal’ if it doesn’t include at least a half cup of fruits or vegetables?”
