The produce for Better Health Foundation (PBH) has announced, in co-operation with the makers of Hidden Valley ranch dressings, a PBH board member, the expansion of its Love Your Veggies Nationwide School Lunch Campaign for the 2007-08 school year.

The programme will award 51 grants, totalling more than $500,000 (£252,000) - one grant per state, as well as one grant being awarded to a school in Hidden Valley’s home town of Oakland, California.

The $10,000 grants will be given to schools that develop innovative, sustainable and exciting programmes that not only bring more fruits and vegetables into the cafeteria, but also inspire kids to eat their greens.

Collaborators, including PBH and the School Nutrition Association, support activities like the Love Your Veggies programme because they continue to reinforce the importance of fruits and vegetables in children’s diets.

“Hidden Valley has demonstrated its commitment to PBH’s mission - increasing fruit and vegetable consumption - by expanding its successful Love Your Veggies campaign,” said Elizabeth Pivonka, president and ceo of PBH. “While we’re interested in having kids eat fruits and veggies in whatever form they prefer - fresh, canned, frozen, dried or 100 per cent juice - this programme brings more fresh produce items into cafeterias where they might not have been offered before, giving kids across the country greater access to fresh vegetables and encouraging them to try new items.”

The Love Your Veggies Nationwide School Lunch Campaign, created by Hidden Valley, awarded $90,000 in grants to six elementary schools across the country during the 2006-07 school year.

These grants were designed to provide greater access to fresh veggies during school lunches by adding a salad bar to the school’s cafeteria. Local celebration events were held at grant recipient schools this past spring.

For more information about Love Your Veggies, visit

www.loveyourveggies.com

GOING FRESH DOWN UNDER

The PMA’s second annual Fresh Connections Australia Conference kicked off in Sydney on August 2, with an opening reception.

Several hundred participants turned up for the conference, which was held the following day at the Darling Harbour. Keynote presentations were given by Thomas Reardon, a professor at the Michigan State University, William Schuler, president and ceo of the Castellini group of companies and co-chair of the PMA transportation taskforce, and Nancy Tucker, PMA vice-president of global business development.

Pictured below at the opening reception, from left to right, are: David Smith of Freshmax Holdings and PMA Australia/New Zealand Country Council member; Robert Nugan, Fresh Produce Group of Australia and PMA International Council member; Schuler; and Michael Simonetta of Perfection Fresh Australia and the Country Council, and conference mc.