The United Fresh Produce Association has announced the donation of salad bars to 200 Midwest schools in Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio and Wisconsin.
An estimated 100,000 Midwest students in both urban and rural school districts will benefit by having increased access to a wide variety of fresh fruits and vegetables every day at school lunch.
With the goal of increasing students’ fruit and vegetable consumption, the donation represents the start of the United Fresh Foundation’s multi-year Let’s Move Salad Bars to Midwest Schools campaign.
“Our philosophy is to provide our students with fresh produce every day,' said Bertrand Weber, director, culinary and nutrition services for Minneapolis Public Schools. 'We believe salad bars are teaching our students about the importance of eating healthy, that fruits and vegetables are delicious and should be part of every meal. We currently have salad bars in 31 of our 62 Minneapolis Public Schools and our goal is to expand our salad bar programme to more schools. Let’s Move Salad Bars to Midwest Schools is helping us accomplish that goal.'
“We are at a pivotal moment in school nutrition,” added United Fresh CEO Tom Stenzel. “Our industry is committed to helping schools serve a wide variety of fresh fruits and I’m thrilled to see so many produce industry leaders and businesses step forward to support the salad bar campaign. This is truly a transformational programme, making a difference in the lives of hundreds of thousands of kids.”
